Data Source

Texas Vital Statistics (VSTAT)

Data Description

Drug poisoning-related deaths are deaths that are unintentional according to the medical certifier who completes the cause of death section of the death certificate. This category includes ICD-10 codes X40-X44. It does not include deaths classified as suicide, homicide or undetermined intent.

Non-natural deaths are sent to the Justice of the Peace or Medical Examiner to perform an autopsy and toxicology test. The toxicology report may take up to 6 months. For this reason, it takes time for ICD-10 codes to be added to death records. At this time, provisional death data may not be coded and counts may change over time.

Fentanyl poisoning-related deaths are a subset of all drug poisoning-related deaths where the cause of death contains the text 'fentanyl' or 'fentanil'. Other misspellings of fentanyl are not included. Those deaths could involve fentanyl in combination with other substances.

Xylazine poisoning indications are a subset of all drug poisoning-related deaths where the cause of death contains the text 'xylazine'; 'zylazine'; 'xilazine'; or 'xilozine'. Other misspellings of xylazine are not included. Those deaths could involve xylazine in combination with other substances.

To protect privacy, counts of deaths from 1-9 are suppressed. Rates where the numerator is 1-20 are suppressed because rates based on small numbers are unreliable. On the dashboard, "---" indicates suppressed data. When a data spreadsheet is downloaded, suppressed values appear as "-1"

Race or Ethnicity "Non-Hispanic Other" race/ethnicity category also includes records with Unknown race/ethnicity and multiple race responses

Population counts and rates utilize population projections from the 2018 Texas Demographer State Projection 1.0 Migration Scenario Projections: https://demographics.texas.gov/Projections/2018/.
Sub-groups that meet suppression criteria for low values are not shown.

Population Rates are calculated using population projections from the 2018 Texas Demographer State Projection 1.0 Migration Scenario Projections: https://demographics.texas.gov/Projections/2018/.

Border counties include the following 32 counties as determined from the La Paz agreement: Brewster, Brooks, Cameron, Crockett, Culberson, Dimmit, Duval, Edwards, El Paso, Frio, Hidalgo, Hudspeth, Jeff Davis, Jim Hogg, Kennedy, Kinney, La Salle, Maverick, McMullen, Pecos, Presidio, Real, Reeves, Starr, Sutton, Terrell, Uvalde, Val Verde, Webb, Willacy, Zapata, and Zavala. Non-Border counties include all other counties not included as border counties and deaths where the county is unknown.

Additional Information

Texas DSHS Vital Statistics

Center for Disease Control and Prevention Drug Overdose Deaths

National Institute on Drug Abuse Drug Overdose Death Rates

Texas Public Health Regions