Opioid drug overdose deaths are down in US, study finds, but Covid-19 could change that

More than 151,000 Americans died from drug overdoses, alcohol and suicide combined in 2018, slightly lower than the overall numbers in 2017, and leveling off for the first time in two decades, according to a new study.

But the report also found that deaths of despair increased in some minority communities during the same time period. And separately alcohol-related deaths were up 4% and suicides were up 2%, the analysis by the non-profit health policy groups Trust for America's Health and the Well Being Trust, reported Thursday.

While the numbers were mostly level with 2017, they show a 51% increase over the past decade, the report found.Even more problematic, though, the groups warned, these numbers could change when the coronavirus pandemic is factored in. A report released earlier this month by the Well Being Trust predicted as many as 75,000 Americans could die because of drug or alcohol misuse and suicide as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

"We've seen unemployment rates go higher than what we were anticipating, which means that some of the estimates on those deaths could actually increase substantially," Ben Miller, a psychologist and the chief strategy officer for the Well Being Trust, told CNN.