The first real-time tracker of opioid abuse in Minnesota has found an unexpected trend: a summertime increase in overdoses and other drug-related health problems that end up in the hospital.
The observation is the first of many that Hennepin County leaders are hoping they will produce through a new dashboard in order to improve their response to the opioid epidemic.
"Up until now we have been reliant on data that is often two to three years old to make decisions about funding and interventions and to understand where we are at in this crisis," said Dr. Tyler Winkelman, a Hennepin Healthcare physician.
The dashboard is the product of a new consortium of hospitals that are sharing instant data to better identify and address public health problems. It debuted earlier this month with drug-related data from all Hennepin County hospitals that could be sorted by drug type, age, gender and race.
The opioid epidemic has evolved over the past decade from one fueled by prescription painkillers to one dominated by fentanyl, a powerful and often illicit synthetic drug. In 2016, when pop singer Prince died of an overdose involving fentanyl, the synthetic drug was responsible for 37 of 149 opioid overdose deaths. The most recent death data shows that fentanyl was involved in 320 of 340 opioid overdose deaths in 2021.
Hennepin County data suggests the epidemic is worsening; a record 965 people needed inpatient or emergency hospital care this May for opioid-related health problems, including 237 nonfatal overdoses.
Summer wasn't the flashpoint for opioid-related problems when the epidemic emerged a decade ago, but July produced the most opioid-related hospital visits for five years in a row.
Why is a mystery, said Winkelman, who is leading the state hospital data consortium. Hospitals in Boston have reported more winter activity, probably because opioid users are more isolated and have less access to the overdose rescue drug naloxone, he said.
