Health & Environment Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Did opioid overdose deaths in West Virginia fall by 8.5%?

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., offered a note of optimism about her state’s struggle with opioid addiction in a Jan. 22 tweet.

Capito tweeted, “Thanks to successful federal, state, and local efforts, preliminary statistics show opioid overdose deaths are down 8.5% in West Virginia. Awesome news!”

Is this statistic correct? Capito’s office did not respond to several inquiries, but we were able to find data that addresses the question.

Her tweet links to a USA Today article about newly released data on opioids published the same day as the tweet. Accompanying that article is a link to a related article that summarizes the state-by-state data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to the breakdown, West Virginia’s predicted 12-month number for overdose deaths from all drugs fell from 1,047 in 2017 to 958 in 2018. That’s a decrease of 8.5 percent, as Capito said.

However, we should note a couple caveats.

First, a different cut of the CDC data actually shows even stronger declines in West Virginia. Preliminary, 12-month statewide data for overdose deaths shows an 18.7 percent decline for reported deaths between July 2017 and July 2018, and a 32 percent decline for predicted deaths over the same period.

Second, the 8.5 percent decline refers to overdose deaths from all drugs, not “opioid overdose deaths,” as Capito said.

The report doesn’t break down the data for opioid deaths by state. However, other data shows patterns for different drugs, and those serve to complicate Capito’s optimism.

A CDC report detailing annual figures for 2016 and 2017 found that in West Virginia, there was a decrease in prescription opioid overdose deaths by almost 13 percent between those two years. However, during the same time period, the deaths from all opioids, including heroin and methadone, rose more than 14 percent, and the death rates from synthetic opioids other than methadone increased by more than 42 percent.

In other words, a reduction in the deaths from prescription opioids masked how fast deaths from all opioids and synthetic opioids rose over that period.

“The opioid overdose epidemic continues to worsen and evolve because of the continuing increase in deaths involving synthetic opioids,” the CDC reported, according to a Dec. 28, 2018 article in the Register Herald of Beckley, W.Va.

Our ruling

Capito tweeted, “Thanks to successful federal, state, and local efforts, preliminary statistics show opioid overdose deaths are down 8.5% in West Virginia.”

This number appears in a USA Today article that summarized CDC data, and other CDC data shows even sharper declines. That’s the good news.

However, Capito misidentified the figure as opioid overdose deaths specifically, rather than overdose deaths from all drugs. In addition, a more detailed analysis shows that while prescription opioid overdose deaths are down, overdose deaths from synthetic opioids are up. This suggests a more complicated outlook for the state’s overall overdose problem.

We rate the statement Half True.

Pocahontas County Aims to Help Aquatic Wildlife

Two groups aim to improve conditions for aquatic wildlife in Pocahontas County.

The Monongahela National Forest and Trout Unlimited are working together this summer to improve conditions for aquatic life in the town of Bartow, in Pocahontas County.

According to Greenbrier District Ranger Jack Tribble, aquatic organisms have difficulty traveling through poorly designed or failing culverts – these are pipes that allow water to flow under roads, railroads and trails. When damaged or if these culverts don’t line up with a stream, it can become a barrier for aquatic wildlife.

However, the two groups plan to create barrier-free passage for creatures in the streams by building open-bottomed culverts under forest service roads.

Tribble said in a news release that this will maintain the natural stream bottom and allow stream-dwelling organisms, like native trout and aquatic insects, to travel freely.

Three roads will be closed temporarily in Bartow during installation:

Forest Road 369 (Fox Run Road) will be closed where Fox Run crosses under it. This closure will not affect public use because Fox Run Road is not open to public use. This work will begin on or about July 31.
Forest Road 17 (Little River Road) will be closed where an unnamed tributary of Little River crosses under it just west of FR 14 (Middle Mountain Road). The road closure will begin on or about August 15. No through traffic will be allowed. A detour will be posted.
Later this fall, Forest Road 44 will be closed where Gertrude Run crosses under it between Forest Road 179 (Elklick Run Road) and Forest Road 178 (Gertrude Run Road). No through traffic will be allowed. A detour will be posted.

Each road will be closed for at least a couple weeks.

Big Increase Seen in W.Va. Needle Exchange Program

Health officials say more than 8,300 new syringes have been distributed in the nearly two years that a needle exchange program has been operated in a West Virginia city.

The Intelligencer reports that nearly 6,000 of the clean needles have been given out in the past nine months by the Wheeling-Ohio County Board of Health Department. That’s more than double the number from the exchange program’s initial year.

Health Department administrator Howard Gamble says the exchange program has been going well.

The health department conducts the off-site program at a Northwood Health System facility from noon to 3 p.m. every Friday. Operating a one-for-one free exchange, health personnel accept used needles and can give out an equal number of sterile syringes.