A new SHADAC issue brief examines recent trends in the United States’ opioid crisis and patterns in drug overdose death rates in 2021, the most recent year of complete national data on overdose death rates, and represents the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the brief, SHADAC researchers Andrea Stewart and Colin Planalp provide an in-depth background on the crisis, including the explosive rise of fentanyl and how it has become the drug most often associated with overdose deaths, and an analysis of drug overdose death rates overall, across all 50 states, by demographic categories, and by drug type. 

Benchmarking can be used to identify health disparities and establish a standard for evaluating efforts to address health inequities. There is no single ideal benchmark for health equity measurement and it is important to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each before selecting an approach. This brief summarizes the advantages and disadvantages of four common approaches to health equity benchmarking.