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Heroin overdose killed 420 people last year in New York, according to data realesed by the city's health department on Thursday.

Based on the data's analysis, Reuters said the number of heroin overdose deaths in 2013 was the highest the city reported in a decade and the contraband was the single largest killer of all overdose deaths recorded last year. Of the 782 drug overdose deaths a staggering 54% died of heroin overdose. The data also showed that the total number of overdose deaths increased by 41% since 2010. Growing heroin overdose deaths in New York City made news earlier this year when noted actor Philip Seymour Hoffman fatally overdosed in his apartment.

Breaking down the figures, NY Daily News attributed increase in drug overdose deaths to prescription drug abuse. It said the significant increase in number of deaths over the last few years is now causing grave concerns over tackling the problem, particularly in affluent neighborhoods which witnessed the biggest jump in numbers.

New York Times further pointed out that the profile of a drug user shifted in the last decade as affluent young white men are now falling prey to heroin. It quoted Staten Island figures where 30 residents who fatally overdosed, were white.

"It was almost exclusively Central Brooklyn, South Bronx, East Harlem and overlapped with New York City's highest-need neighborhoods. The rest of the city - Staten Island, Queens, most of Manhattan - close to nothing." chief medical officer at the Phoenix House Foundation Dr. Andrew Kolodny told New York Times.

Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett said the department took an aggressive approach to save lives in Staten Island which reduced number of deaths due overdoses from prescription pills and heroin.

"Over the last two years, the Health Department educated both health care providers and residents on the risks of these highly addictive drugs, and worked with community groups, syringe access programs, and first responders to increase overdose reversals with naloxone," she said.