The inaugural issue of Oxford Community Health Reports shows the national opioid crisis has permeated Oxford County.
Opioid-related death rates in the county are similar to the provincial average, but Oxford County is seeing higher rates of hospitalizations and emergency department visits.
In 2016, seven opioid-related deaths were reported, at a rate of 6.2 per 100,000 people.
Provincially, the rate of hospitalizations related to opioid use was 13.7 per 100,000 in 2016 while the rate of emergency department visits was 31.7 per 100,000.
Comparatively, Oxford County’s rate of hospitalizations was 18.6 and rate of ED visits was 34.6.
The findings suggest that while the number of opioid-related deaths and ED visits is climbing in Oxford County, the increase is lower on average than the rest of the province which allows Oxford County to focus efforts on reducing substance misuse and mitigating harms.
Elsewhere in the South West Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), Elgin-St. Thomas had consistently higher rates of hospitalizations and ED visits compared to the provincial average at 38.5 and 45.1 per 100,000, respectively.
Grey-Bruce and Middlesex-London counties saw similar rates, both above the provincial averages, with 24.4 hospitalizations per 100,000 and 36.6 ED visits per 100,000 for Grey-Bruce and 22.8 opioid-related hospitalizations per 100,000 and 39.6 ED visits per 100,000 in London-Middlesex.
The release of the report comes a day after the Middlesex London Health Unit announced the start of public consultations on the possibility of supervised consumption sites in the community and the United States declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency.
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