Confirmed Opioid related Deaths of Ottawa Residents

<p><strong>Date Created: </strong>November 2023<br /><strong>Update Frequency:</strong> Quarterly<br /><strong>Last Reviewed: </strong>November 2023<br /><strong>Accuracy, Completeness, and Known Issues:</strong></p><ul><li>Data are from the "Quarterly PHU opioid-related deaths report" published quarterly by the Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario (OCCO).</li><li>Opioid-related deaths are defined as an acute intoxication/toxicity death resulting from the direct effects of the administration of exogenous substance(s) where one or more of the substances is an opioid, regardless of how the opioid was obtained. This excludes deaths due to chronic substance use, medical assistance in dying, trauma where an intoxicant contributed to the circumstances of the injury and deaths classified as homicide.</li><li>Reports only include confirmed opioid-related deaths for which death investigation results have indicated an opioid directly contributed to the cause of death; these reports are created when approximately 80% of the deaths in the most recent quarter for the province have been confirmed. A breakdown of confirmed vs probable cases can be found in the Interactive Opioid Tool on the PHO website (https://www.publichealthontario.ca/en/dataandanalytics/pages/opioid.aspx).</li><li>Deaths have been assigned to public health unit based on six-digit postal code of the residence of the decedent. If residence postal code was unavailable, the postal code of the incident location was used. If postal code of the incident location was unavailable, the postal code of the death location was used. This methodology aligns with how deaths are assigned in PHO's Interactive Opioid Tool.</li></ul><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Data Steward</strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;OPH Epidemiology Team<br /><strong>Data Steward Email: </strong><a href='mailto:[e-mail]' rel='nofollow ugc'>[e-mail]</a><br /><strong>Department or Agency: </strong>Ottawa Public Health<br /><strong>Branch/Unit: </strong>Epidemiology and Evidence<br />&nbsp;</p>