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Drug Overdose Deaths in Appalachia

Map
An interactive map titled Drug Overdose Deaths in Appalachia by Disability Status. The map has been filtered for overdose by all drugs from 2015 to 2019 in Montgomery County, Virginia. A popup window over the county on the map shows that the overdose mortality rate was 17.6 deaths per 100,000 people ages 15-64 in the population. Users can click on the popup window to view more details. A key shows that disability rates for the age group range from less than 10 percent to greater than 16 percent across the country. Drug overdose rates across the United States range from less than 19 percent to over 60 percent.

March 2018

The Appalachian Overdose Mapping Tool includes overdose mortality rates by employment type.

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The opioid crisis is contributing to lowering U.S. life expectancy. While this issue affects communities across the country, one of the hardest-hit areas is Appalachia.

To better understand the Appalachian opioid crisis and inform effective conversations and interventions, NORC and the Appalachian Regional Commission created the Appalachian Overdose Mapping Tool. It allows users to map overdose hotspots and overlay them with data that provide additional context to opioid addiction and death—including the strength and diversity of local economies, ethnicity, educational attainment, and disability status of residents.

Insights derived from this tool can be used to target resources and interventions and inform media coverage related to overdose deaths in Appalachia.

The interactive tool was created in JavaScript using the Leaflet library. Data was processed using SAS and converted from shapefile to TopoJSON using the Mapshaper web client.

Appalachian Overdose Mapping Tool

Explore the Project

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This visualization was created by NORC’s VizStudio, a creative community of experts who turn complex data into compelling visual stories. 

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