Evaluation of a Suspected Overdose Form for Timely Surveillance of Fatal Drug Overdoses, Multnomah County, OR, 2020-2021

Abstract

Objectives: There is a significant delay in finalization of drug overdose deaths, and a need to more quickly identify suspected overdoses to improve public health response. The objective of our study was to describe creation of a suspect overdose form and evaluate its use. Design: Evaluation of a suspected overdose form used to record information related to death investigation with matching to state vital records. We calculated the toxicology turnaround time for matched records, and also calculated sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the form compared to vital records as the gold standard. Setting: Multnomah County, Oregon, deaths investigated by the County Medical Examiner between January 2020 and December 2021. Main Outcome Measure: Sensitivity of the suspected overdose form. Results: We analyzed 2818 matched death records in total during the study period. The average turnaround time for the 1673 records with toxicology results was 101 days. In 2020, sensitivity of the form was 74%, but this increased to nearly 95% in 2021. Conclusions: Multnomah County’s suspected evaluation form provides a timelier indicator of deaths suspected to be from drug overdose, has good sensitivity to detect true overdoses, and can help guide more rapid public health and public safety response activities.