Research shows that people who have had at least one overdose are more likely to have another. The illegal drug supply landscape is quickly changing, and officials must stay on top of shifting trends to save lives. Timely information can help improve community coordination and intervention planning to better prevent overdose.

To this end, data from a new CDC dashboard on nonfatal overdoses treated in the emergency department (ED) and in hospitals can be used to quickly identify, track, and respond to changes in drug overdose trends. The new Drug Overdose Surveillance and Epidemiology (DOSE) dashboard is an interactive data visualization tool that displays current nonfatal drug overdose-related ED and hospital discharge data. DOSE data can be used to compare US nonfatal overdose trends for any of the four drug overdose types (i.e., all drugs, all opioids, heroin, and all stimulants); by participating state and by county (county-level data are only available for nonfatal all drug overdose ED visits); and by sex and age group.

Fentanyl and its analogs (also called “fentalogs”) have increasingly contributed to opioid overdoses across the United States. Too many American lives are being harmed or lost to this potent, addictive, illusive substance that can easily be combined with drugs like heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine. CDC’s new Fentalog Study Toxicology Testing Dashboard provides data on the amount of fentanyl, fentalogs, and other substance combinations present in blood samples from people hospitalized with a suspected opioid-involved overdose across 10 study sites. Data on commonly found substance combinations can help inform intervention and response to polysubstance use, a growing concern among health departments, healthcare professionals, public health, law enforcement, and government agencies.

These new dashboards can be used in tandem with the existing DOSE Syndromic Surveillance Dashboard to improve our understanding of nonfatal overdose trends.

Explore nonfatal overdose trends.