The number of older adults in Ontario living with opioid use disorder (OUD) has more than doubled since 2017, a new study out of Toronto’s St. Michael’s Hospital has found.
In a 43-page report released Wednesday, the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network (ODPRN) said the quarterly number of Ontarians age 55 and up with OUD that have interacted with the healthcare system has jumped from 7,116 in mid-2017 to 15,231 by the end of 2025.
This represents roughly one in 350 older adults in the province.
The study also showed that opioid toxicity death rates have increased substantially over the last decade.
Data cited by the researchers showed that there were 1,087 opioid toxicity deaths among older adults in Ontario in 2023 and 2024, which equates to roughly one a day.
A staggering 75 per cent of those deaths occurred in people between the ages of 55 and 64.
It also found that only one-third of opioid toxicity deaths in Ontario involved prescribed opioids, although that statistic increases with age.
Co-author Bisola Hamzat, a senior epidemiologist with the ODPRN, which is part of St. Michael’s Hospital, said researchers didn’t expect to see such a high number of Ontarians struggling with opioid addiction.
“I think what we’re seeing is that many people who developed opioid-use disorder during the opioid boom of the past decade are now ageing into that 55-plus age group,” she told CP24 earlier this week.
“I think that also begs the question around system readiness for an ageing population that has more complex care needs, especially when substance-use services have perhaps been more catered to or designed for a younger population.”
Study calls for systemic change
Hamzat said the reason why researchers launched the study was because they were observing a “rise in public health or publicly reported indicators of opioid toxic harms and treatment use among older adults in the province.”
“Community members were worried because we’re seeing an ageing population in Canada as a whole, which also means an aging population of people with an opioid-use disorder,” she said.
“So we really wanted to just do an analysis to understand gaps in care and support for this population. And really, the broader question is: if there’s an ageing population of people who use drugs, people with an opioid-use disorder, is the system ready and capable to handle this shift?”
In the end, Hamzat said the goal of the study is to help reduce and prevent opioid-related harms and deaths among older adults in the province, which are primarily due to fentanyl.
She said researchers will now share their findings with the community, individuals, and agencies most directly impacted, and then with policy makers and government leaders.
The epidemiologist says it’s imperative that substance-use harm reduction services are prioritized in the province as people age.
“So when someone with a substance use disorder does come in, as we’re seeing population age, (staff are) better equipped and prepared to care for that population,” said Hamzat.
“Also just building the clinical infrastructure and pharmacy relations to dispense some treatments within those settings and just making sure people can stay connected to their community supports and addiction specialists, or having people that can help transition or navigate people with substance use histories into long-term care, and make sure their substance use and pain needs are prioritized.”
For this study, researchers analyzed trends over time in healthcare interactions related to OUD, Opioid Agonist Treatment use, non-fatal hospital-treated opioid toxicities, and opioid toxicity deaths among older adults in Ontario between Jan. 1, 2013 and Dec. 31, 2025.
Based on data availability, they also looked at demographic characteristics, circumstances surrounding death, substances contributing to death, prior health history, and healthcare interactions for older adults who were confirmed to have died of an opioid toxicity between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2024. Coroner’s records were also linked to their research for opioid toxicity fatalities during that period.
All data in the study came from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, which is an independent, non-profit research institute that legally collects and analyzes health care and demographic data in Ontario, without consent, for health system evaluation and improvement.
