The number of suicides in Utah caused by drug overdoses may be greatly underreported.

A new study published in the medical journal "Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior" looked at more than 26-hundred overdose deaths in Utah that occurred from 2012 to 2015.

Researchers say suicides involving drugs are prone to be misclassified as accidental or undetermined, and believe the number of drug-caused suicides during that time could be 33-percent higher.

Researchers hope to extend the same methodology to other states.

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