Poisoning Data & Publications

POISONING HOME

The Injury and Violence Prevention Program has developed a drug death surveillance system that uses data provided by the Los Angeles County Coroner (LACC) to examine drug-related deaths and the drugs detected among these deaths.  Drug-related deaths are identified by searching the cause of death variables in the LACC data for the presence of any of several keywords that indicate the death is drug-related.  Drug-related deaths include only those deaths in which the ingestion of a drug (or drugs) directly resulted in death; other deaths potentially related to drug use (motor vehicle collisions involving drug use, for example) are excluded.  Once drug-related deaths are identified, they are linked with toxicology information to examine which drugs were present at the time of death. 

For more information about the Los Angeles County drug death surveillance system, or to inquire about the availability of data, please contact Isabelle Sternfeld at isternfeld@ph.lacounty.gov.

Sternfeld I, Perras N, and Culross PL. Development of a coroner-based surveillance system for drug-related deaths in Los Angeles County. Journal of Urban Health 87.4 (2010): 656-669.

Drug Deaths in Los Angeles County - Fact Sheet (PDF)

2008 Injury Hospitalization Report - Poisoning (PDF)

DATA TABLES & GRAPHS

Poisoning Non-Fatal Injury Hospitalization Rates, 2006-2010 (PDF)

Poisoning Non-Fatal Injury Hospitalization Trends, 2000-2010 (PDF)

Poisoning Injury Death Trends, 2000-2009 (PDF)

California Poison Action Hotline
1-800-222-1222