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Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN)

2021 Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) National Annual Estimates

These reports present 2021 data from the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN).

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Final Annual Report

This final report focuses on key findings from drug-related emergency department visits collected by the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) in 2021. The information presented in the report is organized into the following sections:

  1. Weighted national estimates, including percent and unadjusted rates per 100,000, for all drug-related ED visits by age, sex, race, ethnicity, census region, and quarter
  2. Weighted national estimates for the top five drugs in drug-related ED visits by age, sex, race, ethnicity, census region, and quarter
  3. Monthly trends and drugs involved in polysubstance ED visits in a subset of sentinel DAWN hospitals, and
  4. Drugs that are new to DAWN’s Drug Reference Vocabulary (DRV).

In addition to these sections, the final report provides an overview of DAWN, its sample design, and the weighting and estimation methods used.

Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN): Findings From Drug-Related Emergency Department Visits, 2021

Findings from Drug-Related Emergency Department Visits, 2021 (PDF | 649 KB)

Preliminary Annual Report

This preliminary report focuses on key findings from drug-related emergency department visits collected by the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) in 2021. The information presented in the report is organized into three sections as follows:

  1. Weighted national estimates for the top five drugs in drug-related ED visits by age, sex, race, ethnicity, census region, and quarter
  2. Monthly trends and drugs involved in polysubstance ED visits in a subset of sentinel DAWN hospitals, and
  3. Drugs that are new to DAWN’s Drug Reference Vocabulary (DRV).

In addition to these sections, the preliminary report provides an overview of DAWN, its sample design, and the weighting and estimation methods used.

Preliminary Findings from Drug-Related Emergency Department Visits, 2021

Preliminary Findings from Drug-Related Emergency Department Visits, 2021 (PDF | 586 KB)

Frequently Asked Questions

The 2021 reports are based on data abstracted from 52 participating hospitals. Originally, DAWN was intended to be comprised of 50 hospitals, but the DAWN redesign in 2019 led to the retention of three hospitals, making the DAWN participating hospital sample size 53.

Abstraction of 2021 data was completed in mid-2022, however, in an effort to share data with the public as early as possible a preliminary report was released in May of 2022.

  • The 2021 final report includes an additional section titled Weighted National Estimates of All Drug-Related ED Visits, 2021 and presents both the percentage and unadjusted rate per 100,000 for all drug-related emergency department visits broken down by age, sex, race, ethnicity, region, and quarter.
  • An additional 7,492 drug-related ED visits were included in the analysis for the final report.
  • A section in the final report titled Key Findings from Sentinel Hospitals, March 2021 – December 2021 includes data from nine sentinel hospitals and consists of a 10 month analysis period, whereas, this section in the preliminary report includes data on 8 sentinel hospitals and consists of an 8 month analysis period.

  • The final report includes a section titled Weighted National Estimates of All Drug-Related ED Visits, 2021 and presents both the percentage and unadjusted rate per 100,000 for all drug-related emergency department visits. The final and preliminary reports include a section titled Weighted National Estimates of the Top Five Drugs in Drug-Related ED Visits, 2021 and presents weighted data on the top 5 drugs involved in drug-related ED visits. The data was weighted in order to generate nationally representative estimates for these drug-related ED visits by age, sex, race, ethnicity, census region, and quarter.
  • The final and preliminary reports include a section titled Key Findings from Sentinel Hospitals, April 2021 – November 2021 (preliminary report) and Key Findings from Sentinel Hospitals, March 2021 – December 2021 (final report), which presents unweighted data from sentinel hospitals. The analysis was based on unweighted data from sentinel hospitals in order to assess drug-related ED visit trends and polysubstance use.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2023). National Substance Use and Mental Health Services Survey (N-SUMHSS) 2022: Data on Substance Use and Mental Health Treatment Facilities (SAMHSA Publication No. PEP23-07-00-002). Rockville, MD: Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Retrieved from https://www.samhsa.gov/data.

Last Updated: 2/13/2025