MORGANTOWN — Research conducted at West Virginia University suggests consuming alcohol with fentanyl and other drugs may explain, in part, why more men than women die from unintentional overdoses.

Zheng Dai, assistant director of health analytics at the WVU Health Affairs Institute, led the study.

“Nationally and in West Virginia, the proportion of men and women actually using illicit substances is about equal, yet far more men are dying from overdoses,” Dai said. “We know men are more likely to drink a greater amount of alcohol than women, and in our overdose analysis, we saw men are more likely to drink alcohol while using a substance.”

Dai explained that since alcohol and opioid intoxication each cause respiratory depression, combining the two produces enhanced toxicity, increasing susceptibility to fatal overdose.

“Oftentimes, because alcohol and opioids are two different substances, people don’t realize they can have the same harmful effect on the body,” he said.

The research was published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, and draws on forensic research data the investigators developed in collaboration with the West Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to determine how sex differences play a role in the deaths.

Marie Abate, professor of clinical pharmacy in the WVU School of Pharmacy, and Dr. Gordon Smith, Stuart M. and Joyce N. Robbins Distinguished Professor in the WVU School of Public Health, developed a system to filter that data to identify not only unintentional overdose deaths, but also all drugs involved and their concentrations in the blood.

West Virginia ranks highest in the U.S. for overdose deaths per capita, despite a recent decline.