After two straight years of decreases, the number of overdose deaths in Indiana County will increase this year over last year’s totals. OverdoseFreePA, a website administered by the University of Pittsburgh, says there have been 29 overdose deaths in the county in 2019, six more than there were last year.
The website uses data reported by Indiana County Coroner Jerry Overman Jr.
Overdose deaths peaked at 53 in 2016. The following year, they fell to 41, and then 23 last year.
Sixty-six percent of this year’s victims have been male, all of them white, and 76 percent have been between the ages of 35 and 64. The age group affected the most has been those between 35 and 44 years old. Thirteen of the 29 deaths have been in the 15701 (Indiana) zip code.
The three drugs most often found in fatal overdoses in Indiana County this year have been fentanyl, heroin, and acetyl fentanyl. Those three drugs were found in 69 percent of the deaths.
