In Baltimore, Black residents tend to be hit the hardest by public health crises, but results from a community survey released Tuesday by Johns Hopkins University show that income level and educational attainment are more powerful than race at predicting whether a Baltimorean has lost someone close to them from a drug overdose. The research brief cites results from the Baltimore Area Survey — a new annual survey of people living in the city and Baltimore County run by the Johns Hopkins 21st Century Cities Initiative. Last year, researchers surveyed 818 city residents and 534 county residents on two questions: Overall, according to the survey, about 28.
5% of Baltimore-area residents have lost someone close to them from a drug overdose — a share roughly on par with national survey data, which found about a third of Americans know someone who died of an overdose. About 19% of Americans reported that the person they lost was a family member or friend. In 2022, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a higher rate of Black Baltimoreans died of an overdose than white Baltimoreans — 158 per 100,000 residents, compared with 116 per 100,000 residents.
However, Hopkins researchers found no statistical significance in the difference between Black and white Baltimore-area residents who have lost a loved one due to a drug overdose — 31% and 28%, respectively, according to Tuesday’s research brief. The difference is within the survey’s mar.