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Sunday, December 30, 2018

Kids Dying from Opioids

Question How have US mortality rates for pediatric opioid poisonings changed over the past 2 decades?

Findings In this cross-sectional study, 8986 children and adolescents died between 1999 and 2016 from prescription and illicit opioid poisonings. During this time, the mortality rate increased 268.2%.

Meaning Pediatric-specific and family-centered interventions are needed to address pediatric opioid poisonings, a growing public health problem in the United States.

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Conclusions and Relevance Over 18 years, nearly 9000 children and adolescents died from opioid poisonings, and the mortality rate increased nearly 3-fold. These findings suggest that the opioid epidemic is likely to remain a growing public health problem in the young unless legislators, public health officials, clinicians, and parents take a wider view of the opioid crisis and implement protective measures that are pediatric specific and family centered.