The United States is experiencing its highest overall death rates in more than a century, fueled in part by drug overdose mortality. The origins of the current epidemic are due, at least in part, to a 1986 World Health Organization pronouncement that pain treatment is a universal right.
Reviewed by Danielle Ellis, B.Sc.Sep 12 2023 As such, cancer pain treatment guidelines were developed, which included the provision of opioids. In 1995, OxyContin was approved for the management of pain, paving the way for widespread prescription of opioids.
When analyzing subgroups, researchers identified several trends. White and Native Americans or Alaskan Natives have experienced the greatest increase by race. Locations in the Midwest and non-metro areas have been impacted more than other regions. Data from the study show that from 1999 to 2004, Appalachia and the Southwest had the highest death rates from opioids. Over the next five years, mortality rates in these regions increased further and new hotspots appeared in states such as Florida. From 2011 to 2016, hot spots expanded further in Appalachia and the Southwest, but disappeared in Florida, largely due to restrictions on opioid prescriptions. Thereafter, there were marked rises in potentially preventable deaths from heroin.
Related StoriesThe authors note that one immediate challenge is to encourage all providers and state medical societies to ensure the widest distribution and availability of over-the-counter naloxone, an opioid receptor antagonist that rapidly reverses or blocks the effects of opioids, restores normal respiration and heart rhythm, and reverses the potentially fatal effects of an overdose. Earlier this year, the U.S.
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US drug overdose deaths more than quadrupled from 1999 to 2020, study findsThe United States is experiencing its highest overall death rates in more than a century, fueled in part by drug overdose mortality. The origins of the current epidemic are due, at least in part, to a 1986 World Health Organization pronouncement that pain treatment is a universal right. As such, cancer pain treatment guidelines were developed, which included the provision of opioids. In 1995, OxyContin was approved for the management of pain, paving the way for widespread prescription of opioids.
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