More Utahns in recent years have died of unintentional prescription pain medication overdoses than in car crashes, according to the Utah Department of Health.

Among UDOH's other facts:

• Since 2000, the number of deaths associated with prescribed opioid pain medicines has increased 400 percent.

• Between 1999 and 2004, 47 percent of those deaths were of people who had an active prescription for the drug determined to have killed them. And 75 percent had a valid prescription for that drug within the last year.

• Only 15 percent had no record of a prescription being filled for the opioid found in their system at the time of death.

• In 2006, unintentional overdose due to prescribed opioids was the fourth-leading cause of death for Utahns ages 25-54.