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Prescription painkiller overdoses at epidemic levels


The death toll from overdoses of pre- scription painkillers has more than tripled in the past decade, killing more Americans than heroin and cocaine com- bined, according to an analysis in a Cen- ters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Vital Signs report released Nov. 1, 2011. This new finding shows that more than 40 people die every day from over- doses involving narcotic pain relievers like hydrocodone (Vicodin), methadone, oxycodone (OxyContin), and oxymor- phone (Opana).


“States, health insurers, health care


providers, and individuals have critical roles to play in the national effort to stop this epidemic of overdoses while we pro- tect patients who need prescriptions to control pain,” said CDC Director Thomas Frieden, MD, MPH. The increased use of prescription painkillers for nonmedical reasons (without a prescription for the high they cause), along with growing sales, has contributed to the large number of over- doses and deaths. In 2010, 1 in every 20 people in the United States aged 12 and older — a total of 12 million people — reported using prescription painkillers nonmedically, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Based on the data from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), sales of these drugs to pharmacies and health care pro- fessionals have increased by more than 300 percent since 1999. “Prescription drug abuse is a silent epidemic that is stealing thousands of lives and tearing apart communities and families across America,” said Gil Kerlikowske, director of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy. “Health care providers and patients should be ed- ucated on the risks of prescription pain- killers. And parents and grandparents can take time today to properly dispose of any unneeded or expired medications from the home and to talk to their kids


46 TEXAS MEDICINE February 2012


about the misuse and abuse of prescrip- tion drugs.” The prescription painkiller death rates among non-Hispanic whites and American Indians and Alaska Natives were three times those of blacks and Hispanics. In addition, the death rate was highest among persons aged 35 to 54 years. For the analysis, CDC reviewed state data on fatal drug overdoses, non- medical use of prescription painkillers, and sales of prescription painkillers to pharmacies and health professionals. The study found:


• State death rates from overdoses (from 2008 data) ranged from a high of 27 deaths per 100,000 people in New Mexico to a low of 5.5 deaths per 100,000 people in Nebraska.


• Nonmedical use of prescription pain- killers ranged from a high of 1 in 12 people aged 12 and older in Oklaho- ma to a low of 1 in 30 in Nebraska. States with more nonmedical use tend to have more deaths from drug overdoses.


• Prescription painkiller sales per per- son were more than three times high- er in the highest state, Florida, than in the lowest state, Illinois. States with higher sales per person tend to have higher death rates from drug overdose.


For more information about prescrip- tion drug overdoses in the United States, visit www.cdc.gov/HomeandRecreation alSafety/Poisoning.


want to quit, and 52.4 percent of adult smokers tried to quit within the past year. The report says 48.3 percent of smokers who saw a health professional in the past year recalled getting advice to quit, and 31.7 percent used counsel- ing and/or medications in the past year. The use of these effective treatments can almost double or triple rates of success- fully quitting. “More than two-thirds of smokers want to quit smoking, and more than half tried to quit last year,” said CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH. “Smokers who try to quit can double or triple their chances by getting counsel- ing, medicine, or both. Other measures of increasing the likelihood smokers will quit as they want to include hard-hitting media campaigns, 100-percent smoke- free policies, and higher tobacco prices.” According to the report, making


health care settings, as well as all work- places and public places, smoke-free of- fers smokers additional encouragement to help them quit. The report also notes the health care industry can increase successful quit attempts by providing comprehensive insurance coverage with no deductibles or copayments for cessa- tion treatments and services. Tobacco use remains the leading


preventable cause of death and disease, including cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and other lung dis- eases in the United States. Smoking and exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke kill an estimated 443,000 Americans each year. For every one smoking-relat- ed death, another 20 people live with a smoking-related disease. n


Smokers underuse treatment, services for quitting


Most American adults who smoke wish they could quit, and more than half have tried within the past year, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report says 68.8 percent of cur- rent American adult smokers say they


Crystal Conde is associate editor of Texas Medicine. You can reach her by telephone at (800) 880-1300, ext. 1385, or (512) 370-1385; by fax at (512) 370-1629; or by email at crystal.conde@texmed.org.


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