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AAP recommends increased resources for opioid-addicted youth
The AAP’s Committee on Substance Use and Prevention recently released a policy statement that urged physicians to address the necessity for medication-assisted treatment resources for adolescents and young adults with opioid use disorder.
“Between 1991 and 2012, the rate of ‘nonmedical use’ of opioid medication by adolescents and young adults more than doubled, and the rate of opioid use disorders, including heroin addiction, increased in parallel,” Sharon Levy, MD, MPH, FAAP, director of the adolescent substance abuse program and assistant professor in pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital, and colleagues wrote. “The rate of fatal opioid overdose more than doubled between 2000 and 2013. In 2008, more than 16,000 people died of opioid pain reliever overdose.
“Other serious adverse outcomes result from intravenous drug use and include endocarditis, abscesses and infection with hepatitis C.”
The statement provided guidelines to clinicians for the development of new treatments intended for adolescents and young adults living with opioid use disorder and addiction. Levy and the other committee members addressed issues that may occur among youth presenting to primary care practices with opioid addiction. These include:
- a lack of resources offered for medication-assisted treatment;
- underused substance use disorder counseling services; and
- ·negative physician attitudes toward medication-assisted treatment.
The report mentioned three medications available to treat severe opioid disorder: methadone, naltrexone and buprenorphine. Referencing separate studies, the report indicated that adolescents and young adults are treated with medication for opioid abuse less often than adults with severe opioid use disorder or addiction.
The AAP committee offered these recommendations:
- increase resources to make medication-assisted therapy to treat opioid-addicted adolescents and young adults more accessible;
- pediatricians offer these treatments to their severely affected young patients or refer them to other professionals; and
- conduct more research that focuses on “developmentally appropriate treatment” of these disorders.
Policies, attitudes and messages that serve to prevent patients from accessing a medication that can effectively treat a life-threatening condition may be harmful to adolescent health,” Levy and colleagues wrote. – by Kate Sherrer
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
