Black men 55 and older have a higher death rate in comparison to the overall death rate for adults in the same age range, U.S. News reports. The opioid mortality rate among Black men in this age range is about four times higher than the average older adult.

Researchers noted how disparities contribute to the high rate of opioid deaths in the Black community when illicit and synthetic drugs like fentanyl, benzodiazepines, and methamphetamine are used.

“The high — and unpredictably variable — potency of the illicit drug supply may be disproportionately harming racial and ethnic minoritized communities, with deep-seated inequalities in living conditions (including stable housing and employment, policing and arrests, preventive care, harm reduction, telehealth, medications for opioid use disorder, and naloxone access) likely playing a role,” UCLA medical scientists researchers wrote, according to JAMA Network.

The peer-reviewed study collected information from Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Center for Health Statistics. Findings indicated that the overdose death rate for all populations in the U.S increased by 40%, Yahoo News reports.

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