The OD Pulse
The National Overdose Death (OD) Pulse is the premier real-time dashboard for tracking national, regional and state drug overdose trends with unprecedented timeliness and precision.
About the OD Pulse Dashboard
The OD Pulse tracks drug overdose deaths between 1999 and April 2025. This National Institutes of Health-funded project brings together multiple overdose death data sources to answer urgent questions about how the overdose crisis is changing across time, place and drug type.
Led by principal investigator Lori A. Post, PhD, director of the Institute for Public Health and Medicine’s Buehler Center for Health Policy and Economics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, the OD Pulse is designed to help public health agencies, clinicians, policymakers and communities respond more quickly and precisely to a constantly evolving crisis.
When lives are on the line, waiting a year for answers is not an option.”
OD Pulse Methodology
Overdose Velocity
The OD Pulse measures the monthly rate of change in drug-related fatalities to provide situational awareness for clinicians and policymakers.
Acceleration and Jerk Metrics
Unique surveillance metrics that identify where the overdose crisis is intensifying most rapidly, enabling more precise resource allocation than traditional annual reporting.
Real-Time Data Integration
By monitoring the "Pulse" of the crisis monthly, this tool bypasses the typical 12-month reporting lag found in federal datasets.
Dashboard Updates
The OD Pulse is now live and updated monthly as new data becomes available.
Latest Insight: Overdose deaths rise in the West as national decline rapidly loses momentum. (February 2026)
Project Leadership
Lori Ann Post, PhD
Principal Investigator
Spencer D. Cox, MBA
Research Data Analyst
Shivangi Sharma, MS
Research Data Analyst