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Prescription Drug–Related Deaths on the Rise
In the last two decades, accidental deaths due to at-home opiates have gone up in tandem with an increased number of prescriptions.
30-Second Summary
According to an investigation of U.S. death certificates, at-home drug overdoses have risen significantly in the last 20 years
The deaths are not “the result of toddlers getting into medicines or the elderly mixing up their pills,” said medical epidemiologist Leonard J. Paulozzi. Rather, the majority of victims are working-age people with prescriptions.
The increase in deaths runs parallel to an increase in prescribed pain killers and sedatives. The lead author of the study, David P. Phillips of UC San Diego, said that the study showed, “The amount of medical supervision is going down and the amount of responsibility put on the patient's shoulders is going up.”
One reason why prescription drugs are causing an increase in accidental deaths is that a wide variety are often prescribed to patients who mix them improperly—painkillers can be especially dangerous when combined with other narcotics as they mute the apparent effects of other drugs.
B. Joseph Guglielmo, chairman of the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the UC San Francisco said, “People who are chronically on narcotics become tolerant of the benefit of taking pain away. But they don’t become tolerant to the depression in respiratory drive.” As a result, says Sid Nelson, dean of the School of Pharmacy at the University of Washington, “You become unconscious and stop breathing.”
However, a report published by the Archives of Internal Medicine argues that these accidental deaths can be prevented through greater attention on drug distribution in domestic settings.
The deaths are not “the result of toddlers getting into medicines or the elderly mixing up their pills,” said medical epidemiologist Leonard J. Paulozzi. Rather, the majority of victims are working-age people with prescriptions.
The increase in deaths runs parallel to an increase in prescribed pain killers and sedatives. The lead author of the study, David P. Phillips of UC San Diego, said that the study showed, “The amount of medical supervision is going down and the amount of responsibility put on the patient's shoulders is going up.”
One reason why prescription drugs are causing an increase in accidental deaths is that a wide variety are often prescribed to patients who mix them improperly—painkillers can be especially dangerous when combined with other narcotics as they mute the apparent effects of other drugs.
B. Joseph Guglielmo, chairman of the Department of Clinical Pharmacy at the UC San Francisco said, “People who are chronically on narcotics become tolerant of the benefit of taking pain away. But they don’t become tolerant to the depression in respiratory drive.” As a result, says Sid Nelson, dean of the School of Pharmacy at the University of Washington, “You become unconscious and stop breathing.”
However, a report published by the Archives of Internal Medicine argues that these accidental deaths can be prevented through greater attention on drug distribution in domestic settings.
Headline Link: Rising rates of prescription drug deaths
A recent analysis of U.S. death certificates from the last two decades shows a sharp increase in accidental deaths due to at-home prescription drug use. According to the Associated Press, researchers “blame soaring home use of prescription painkillers and other potent drugs, which 25 years ago were given mainly inside hospitals.” The study found that “Deaths from medication mistakes at home increased from 1,132 deaths in 1983 to 12,426 in 2004. Adjusted for population growth, that amounts to an increase of more than 700 percent during that time.”
Source: The Houston Chronicle [Associated Press]
Background: Accidental deaths via prescription drugs
A 2006 Science Daily article examined research published in Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety that indicated that prescription painkillers have been progressively more responsible for accidental deaths over the last decade and a half. Drug prescriptions for oxycodone, hydrocodone, methadone fentanyl and similar substances have increased, and deaths from these drugs have also increased. According to the article, “Between 1999 and 2002, the number of overdose death certificates that mention poisoning by opioid pain killers went up by 91.2%.”
Source: Science Daily
In February, actor Health Ledger died of an accidental overdose of six types of painkillers and sedatives. The Seattle Post Intelligencer reported, “Doctors not connected with the case said it’s not unusual for people to be prescribed painkillers and sedatives, and overdoses are not uncommon.”
Source: The Seattle Times
Reference: Unintentional drug overdose statistics
An investigation published by the Archives of Internal Medicine examined all U.S. death certificates from January 1, 1983, to December 31, 2004, and found that death rates due to fatal medication errors (FMEs) increased by 360.5 percent during that time period. The report concluded, “these findings suggest that a shift in the location of medication consumption from clinical to domestic settings is linked to a steep increase in FMEs. It may now be possible to reduce FMEs by focusing not only on clinical settings but also on domestic settings.” An abstract of the study is available on the journal’s Web site.
Source: Archives of Internal Medicine
Medical epidemiologist Dr. Leonard J. Paulozzi, lead author of the 2006 study written up by Science Daily, delivered a speech to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs in early 2008. He asserted that FMEs were not “the result of toddlers getting into medicines or the elderly mixing up their pills.” Rather, Dr. Paulozzi noted, “All available evidence suggests that these deaths are related to the increasing use of prescription drugs, especially opioid painkillers, among people during the working years of life. A CDC study showed a correlation on the state level between usage of opioid painkillers and drug overdose death rates.”
Source: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Related Topic: Treatments for accidental overdose
An article on Web MD explains how drug overdose is treated in a hospital environment and provides a brief overview of how to address accidental drug overdoses at home.
Source: WebMD
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