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HealthDay Reporter
Most of those deaths are as a result of illegally made fentanyl blended with different medication, stated research writer Lauren Tanz, an epidemiologist on the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.
“Adolescent overdose deaths elevated considerably between 2019 and 2021; nevertheless, these deaths are preventable, and overdoses don’t have to finish in demise,” Tanz stated. “All of us play a job as dad and mom, relations, associates and communities to forestall overdoses and save lives.”
Utilizing information from the CDC’s State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System, the researchers discovered that overdose deaths amongst 10- to 19-year-olds started to rise in late 2019. Amongst 14- to 18-year-olds, overdose deaths jumped 94% from 2019 to 2020 because the COVID-19 pandemic raged on.
About 9 in 10 overdose deaths concerned no less than one opioid, greater than 8 in 10 concerned illicitly manufactured fentanyl, and practically one-quarter concerned counterfeit drugs, in accordance with the report.
The provision of fentanyl has pushed the surge in overdose deaths, in accordance with Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the U.S. Nationwide Institute on Drug Abuse.
“Over the previous few years, there was a marked growth within the drug provide of illicit fentanyl, an affordable, very potent artificial opioid drug,” she stated. “Whereas folks could search out fentanyl deliberately in some instances, many individuals will not be conscious whether or not the drug they’re utilizing comprises fentanyl, which might put them at excessive danger of overdosing.”
The surge of fentanyl within the drug provide is of huge concern, Volkow stated, particularly the contamination of counterfeit drugs made to resemble prescribed drugs equivalent to ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity dysfunction) medicines, sleep aids or painkillers.
Psychological sickness additionally contributed to the surge, Tanz stated.
Greater than 40% of teenagers who died from a drug overdose had a historical past of a psychological sickness, equivalent to melancholy or suicidal or self-harm conduct, or had been handled for a psychological well being situation, the researchers discovered.
“Our outcomes present that overdose deaths amongst adolescents continued to rise from January to June 2020, coinciding with the pandemic’s onset, and was probably associated to declining psychological well being,” Tanz stated. Social isolation and lack of entry to school-based psychological well being companies might also have performed a job.
Linda Richter, vp for prevention analysis and evaluation on the Partnership to Finish Habit, in New York Metropolis, stated, “This report must be a wake-up name to all households, communities, educators, well being professionals, policymakers and younger folks themselves that what was an opioid epidemic is now a fentanyl disaster inflicting an unacceptable variety of utterly preventable deaths amongst youngsters.” She was not concerned within the research however reviewed the findings.
Volkow struck an identical chord.
“Drug use amongst adolescents is changing into extra harmful, however not essentially extra frequent,” she stated.
Researcher Tanz stated steps to forestall overdose deaths are urgently wanted. These embody:
- Selling prevention.
- Monitoring danger behaviors, equivalent to poor faculty efficiency and teenagers associating with others who use medication; selling constructive social and life expertise; and enhancing well-being.
- Educating teenagers concerning the risks of illicitly manufactured fentanyl and counterfeit drugs.
- Educating household and associates on methods to acknowledge warning indicators of drug use.
- Studying how to answer an overdose.
- Coaching family and friends to make use of naloxone, a drugs used to quickly reverse an opioid overdose, and increasing entry to it.
- Making certain entry to efficient therapy for psychological well being issues and substance abuse.
Extra data
The U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers has extra about stopping drug overdoses.
SOURCES: Lauren Tanz, ScD, MSPH, epidemiologist, U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, Atlanta; Nora Volkow, MD, director, U.S. Nationwide Institute on Drug Abuse; Linda Richter, PhD, vp, prevention analysis and evaluation, Partnership to Finish Habit, New York Metropolis; Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Dec. 16, 2022
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