22 suspected overdose deaths in Ottawa in first 4 weeks of 2024: OPH data

Twenty-two deaths in Ottawa in the first four weeks of the year were because of suspected drug overdoses, data from Ottawa Public Health suggest.

Twenty-two deaths in Ottawa in the first four weeks of the year were because of suspected drug overdoses, data from Ottawa Public Health suggest.

The public health unit's weekly overview of suspected drug overdose-related emergency department visits and deaths shows that there was an average of between five and six deaths each week that were believed to be overdose-related between Jan. 1 and Jan. 28. Ottawa saw 258 emergency department visits due to suspected drug overdoses during that same time, the data show.

This is roughly on par with same time in 2023, when data show there were 263 emergency department visits because of suspected drug overdoses and 26 deaths between Jan. 2 and Jan. 29 of that year. In 2022, there were 225 emergency department visits and 23 deaths related to suspected overdoses in the first four weeks of the year.

These data are based on the chief complaint at triage for emergency department visits and, in the case of reported deaths, evidence from the scene or investigation or the preliminary autopsy findings, OPH says. 

There was a significant increase in emergency department visits specifically related to confirmed opioid overdoses in 2023.

Data show there were 1,290 visits to the emergency department that were confirmed to be related to an opioid overdose in 2023, up from 866 in 2022 and 929 in 2021. Data for confirmed opioid overdose-related deaths in 2023 show 93 deaths in the first half of the year. Data for the second half is not yet available. There were 163 confirmed opioid-related deaths in Ottawa in all of 2022, according to OPH data.

July 2023 saw the highest number of confirmed opioid overdose-related emergency department visits in three years.