African Americans now outpace whites in opioid‐involved overdose deaths: a comparison of temporal trends from 1999 to 2018

Aims To estimate racial differences in rates of opioid‐involved overdose deaths (OOD) between whites and African Americans in the United States from 1999 to 2018 to (1) identify racial variation in the temporal trends of OOD during the 20‐year period and (2) compare trends in OOD rates between whites and African Americans using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) three defined OOD epidemic periods. Methods Data were obtained from the CDC wide‐ranging on‐line data for epidemiological research, which combines OOD data from the National Vital Statistics System, and population data from the US Census Bureau. Joinpoint regression models were used to estimate age‐adjusted annual percentage change (APC) in OOD by race from 1999 to 2018. Results The temporal trends of OOD varied by race. African Americans had a persistently low rate of OOD and statistically non‐significant rate of change in OOD from 1999 to 2012 (APC = 0.47; P > 0.05), with a statistically significant and rapid acceleration in OOD rates in 2012 that persisted to 2018 (APC = 26.16; P