COLUMBUS, Ohio (WTVN)--The Franklin County Coroner says overdose deaths are up for the first three months of 2019, compared to last year.
Dr. Anahi Ortiz says there were 120 overdose death from January 1st to march 31st, up 8-percent from the same time frame the previous year.
"We continue to see opiates and especially fentanyl as the driving factors for these deaths. Opiate-related deaths accounted for 90% of overdose deaths for first quarter 2019 which is an increase of 7% from the first quarter of 2018," Dr. Ortiz said.
She adds that fentanyl-related deaths accounted for 76-percent of the total number of OD's to start 2019, an 8.5-percent increase from the first quarter of 2018.
Numbers from this year are still preliminary, since not all cases have been finalized.
(photo courtesy Getty Images)