Opioid-related deaths, ER visits higher in London region compared to the rest of Ontario

The number of opioid-related deaths and hospitalizations is greater in the Middlesex-London area than what's being seen across the province, the region's top doctor warns.

Emergency department visits related to opioids in the region have increased 92 per cent from January 2020 to the end of December last year, according to a report from the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network and Public Health Ontario, published in September.

"The opioid crisis continues to have a significant impact on the Middlesex-London community. Opioid poisonings and opioid-related toxicity deaths have continued to increase from 2017 through to the end of 2022," said medical officer of health Dr. Alex Summers.

"This is slightly higher than the rest of the province and it really speaks to the ongoing burden of illness in our region."

The data suggests there has been a 31 per cent rise in opioid-related deaths across Ontario from January 2020 to September 2022, going from 154 to 202 deaths. Local numbers were slightly higher than the provincial average before the pandemic as well, said Summers. 

Locally, an average of about 11 deaths were reported every month in 2021, a 29 per cent jump from 2020 which had about nine reported deaths every month.

The report also found that deaths related to substances such as alcohol, stimulants, opioids and benzodiazepines were disproportionately higher among younger populations in Ontario. Although the median age of death reported was 41, there's a growing number of those younger than that age demographic as well, Summers said. 

Deaths due to accidental alcohol and drug poisoning rose 37 per cent throughout the pandemic across the province, the report said.

The cause for the ongoing opioid crisis can be related to many factors, but a major one is the contaminated fentanyl supply that is readily available in communities, Summers said.

"Fentanyl is a highly toxic drug and the dosing can be high irregular, meaning it can be hard to predict its impact when you take it," he said. "And we know that is a significant contributor to the ongoing rise in ER presentations as well as deaths."

While he can't predict what the trend will look like in the coming months, Summers said there are many interventions that agencies in the London are taking together to respond to the crisis. 

These include the needle-syringe program where people have a place to return drug-use equipment and pick up new sterile equipment. There are also local drug alerts to warn those at risk for opioid poisoning, a safer supply program, and consumption and treatment services, among others.

"The work of our community to address homelessness is also an important contributor to all this. We don't see this work happen in isolation," he said. 

Summers also credits the expansion of naloxone, which rapidly reverses an opioid overdose, as a helpful intervention. In 2022, there were almost 100,000 naloxone kits distributed in the region, reportedly reversing about 500 overdoses.