1. OCME Forensic Trends in Virginia
Virginia Department of Health
Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
Rosie Hobron, MPH
Statewide Forensic Epidemiologist

2. Virginia population estimates came from the Virginia Department of Health, Division of Health Statistics ( stars on years indicate that a different Virginia population source was used for the rate calculation as determined by previous OCME Annual Reports

4. Number of Cases by Case Type, Manner, and District, 2013
Central
Northern
Tidewater
Western
Total
Total Deaths Reported to OCME
3937
2117
1723
2272
10049
OCME Cases by Examination Type
Complete examinations (autopsy)
846
716
677
823
3062
External examination
935
517
581
636
2669
Partial examination 5 70 1 77
TOTAL CASES ACCEPTED BY THE OCME
1786
1303
1259
1460
5808
OCME Cases by Manner of Death
Accident
788
606
511
630
2535
Homicide
118 39
126 57
340
Natural
539
332
369
467
1707
Suicide
312
289
185
276
1062
Undetermined 29 37 68 30
164

6. Top Three Methods of Death in 2013
# 3 Motor Vehicles (n=831)
#2 Guns (n=848)
#1 Drug Poisonings (n=912)

8. Motor Vehicle Fatalities

10. *Data for national motor vehicle fatalities was obtained from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Yearly Snapshots ( national population totals were obtained from the United States Census (

14. *
* No rate can be calculated

16. Motor Vehicle Fatalities by Location of Injury, 2013

17. Motor Vehicle Fatalities and Alcohol

18. Deceased Drivers and Alcohol, 2013
Of the 548 DRIVERS that died as a result of a motor
vehicle accident (65.9% of all motor vehicle
fatalities) …
…511 (93.2%) were tested for drugs and/or alcohol

19. …Drunk Drivers Continued…
Of the 161 deceased DRIVERS with a BAC >0.08%...
The average BAC was 0.20% (Range ; SD 0.07)
At least 76 of these decedents (47.2%) were speeding at the time of death
At least 96 decedents (59.6%) were NOT wearing a seatbelt at the time of death. Additionally, 18 decedents (11.2%) had an unknown seatbelt status at the time of death

20. Gun Deaths

26. Unique Gun Statistics Total gun deaths from 2007-2013 (n=5908)
50.1% (n=2961) were suicides in white males
18.3% (n=1080) were homicides in black males

27. Drug/Poison Deaths

31. The Opioid Epidemic
From , opioids accounted for nearly 70% of all drug/poison deaths

34. *The total number of drugs are tallied by whether the drug caused or contributed to death, so the number of drugs will far exceed the total number of actual drug deaths because often, more than one drug caused or contributed to death; additional drug/poisons not present in this figure may have caused or contributed to death

35. Opioid Demographic Differences
Prescription Opioids,
Heroin,

37. Fatal Heroin Overdoses by Locality of Injury, 2013

38. Fatal Prescription Opioid Overdoses by Locality of Injury, 2013

39. Conclusion
Accidents and suicides have been on in the incline, homicides on the decline
Similar to national trends, the number of motor vehicle deaths in Virginia have been decreasing
The number of suicides by firearm have been increasing
For the first time in Virginia history, drug/poison deaths were the #1 method of death (2013) for ME cases
Opioids are the cause of ~70% of drug/deaths in Virginia
While the increase in the number of fatal heroin deaths has been of big concern statewide, opioid prescription drug deaths kill more than twice the number of people as heroin
For the last 7 years, the number of prescription opioid deaths has plateaued

40. QUESTIONS?