Demographics of Kentucky resident drug overdose fatalities in service-related industries versus non-service-related industries, 2018–2021
| Demographic characteristic | Service-related industries (n=1789) | Non-service-related industries (n=2839) | Χ2 test of association p value |
| Age group | (n=1789) | (n=2838) | |
| 16–24 | 106 (6%) | 149 (5%) | 0.0013 |
| 25–54 | 1387 (78%) | 2098 (74%) | |
| 55+ | 296 (17%) | 591 (21%) | |
| Gender | (n=1789) | (n=2838) | |
| Female | 823 (46%) | 393 (14%) | <0.0001 |
| Male | 966 (54%) | 2445 (86%) | |
| Race | (n=1789) | (n=2838) | |
| Black | 205 (11%) | 211 (7%) | <0.0001 |
| White | 1554 (87%) | 2594 (91%) | |
| Other | 30 (2%) | 33 (1%) | |
| Ethnicity | (n=1786) | (n=2838) | |
| Hispanic | 30 (2%) | 41 (1%) | 0.0757 |
| Non-Hispanic | 1756 (98%) | 2797 (99%) | |
| Occupation | |||
| Service-related industries | (n=1789) | ||
| Waiters and waitresses | 176 (10%) | ||
| Cooks, restaurants | 131 (7%) | ||
| Landscaping and groundskeeping workers | 113 (6%) | ||
| Automotive service technicians and mechanics | 100 (6%) | ||
| Registered nurses | 72 (4%) | ||
| Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners | 67 (4%) | ||
| Nursing assistants | 66 (4%) | ||
| Food service managers | 56 (3%) | ||
| Maids and housekeeping cleaners | 50 (3%) | ||
| Chefs and head cooks | 46 (3%) | ||
| Other | 912 (51%) | ||
| Non-service-related industries | (n=2838) | ||
| Construction labourers | 427 (15%) | ||
| Carpenters | 196 (7%) | ||
| Labourers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand | 192 (7%) | ||
| Production workers, all other | 163 (6%) | ||
| Retail salespersons | 124 (4%) | ||
| Heavy and tractor trailer truck drivers | 116 (4%) | ||
| Painters, construction and maintenance | 92 (3%) | ||
| Assemblers and fabricators, all other | 88 (3%) | ||
| Electricians | 73 (3%) | ||
| Roofers | 59 (2%) | ||
| Other | 1308 (46%) | ||
| Top drugs identified in worker drug overdose decedents* | (n=1787) | (n=2838) | |
| Fentanyl | 787 (44%) | 1363 (48%) | |
| Methamphetamine | 430 (24%) | 804 (28%) | |
| Amphetamine | 366 (20%) | 689 (24%) | |
| Gabapentin | 233 (13%) | 373 (13%) | |
| Morphine | 194 (11%) | 349 (12%) | |
| Acetylfentanyl | 196 (11%) | 342 (12%) | |
| THC | 224 (13%) | 318 (11%) | |
| Ethanol | 172 (10%) | 313 (11%) | |
| Cocaine | 155 (9%) | 237 (8%) |
*Most deaths have more than two substances in the postmortem toxicology results. Therefore, drug categories are not mutually exclusive.
THC, tetrahydrocannabinol.