Combatting opioid overdoses has become a key focus in population health, but other drugs used to treat common diseases can also be dangerous if misused or not prescribed and managed safely. We completed an analysis of healthcare claims data and found that accidental drug overdose deaths due to psychotropic and other select central nervous system (CNS) medications are increasing in prevalence and that commercially insured individuals with a prescription for more than one of these therapeutic classes were more likely to experience an overdose from any substance than people without such prescriptions. This brief presents our key findings.

This research was originally published on 24 August 2023 and has been updated to reflect more recent data.