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A team of three journalists from the BBC World Service spent six weeks embedded in the Louisville newsroom.
Courtesy BBC World Service, Louisville Courier Journal

Kentucky earned its spot on a list it probably doesn’t want to be on: states with highest rates of preventable deaths.

The Bluegrass State ranks at No. 5 on the National Safety Council’s annual list with 73.3 preventable deaths per 100,000 population. The top spot went to Kentucky’s neighbor, West Virginia, with 104.2 preventable deaths.

The leading cause of preventable death in Kentucky is poisoning, according to the report. These deaths are in part a byproduct of the opioid epidemic that has swept the commonwealth and nation. In 2017, fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, killed 763 people in Kentucky.

For the first time in U.S. history, a person is more likely to die from an accidental opioid overdose than a motor vehicle crash, the National Safety Council found.

You may like: Louisville arms drug users with tests to avoid No. 1 killer: fentanyl

Here are guidelines the National Safety Council gives to states to address drug overdose:

  • Mandate prescriber education
  • Implement prescribing guidelines
  • Integrate prescription drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) into clinical settings
  • Improve data collection and sharing
  • Treat opioid overdose by increasing access to naloxone
  • Increase availability of opioid use disorder treatment, including medication-assisted treatment

More: Kentucky gets $87 million federal grant to reduce opioid deaths

States with the highest preventable death rates per 100,000 population

Top 10, with leading cause of preventable death in parentheses

  1. West Virginia – 104.2 (poisoning)
  2. Ohio – 76.9 (poisoning)
  3. Pennsylvania – 74.4 (poisoning)
  4. Maine – 74.1 (poisoning)
  5. Kentucky – 73.3 (poisoning)
  6. New Mexico -69.9 (poisoning)
  7. Rhode Island – 67.8 (poisoning)
  8. New Hampshire – 67.5 (poisoning)
  9. Tennessee – 66.0 (poisoning)
  10. Oklahoma – 65.2 (poisoning)

Contact Ben Tobin at bjtobin@gannett.com and 502-582-4181 or follow on Twitter @TobinBen. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: https://subscribe.courier-journal.com.

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