Nonfatal drug overdoses increase among children
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Nonfatal drug-related overdoses are rising among children aged younger than 15 years, findings published in Pediatrics showed.
Douglas R. Roehler, PhD, MPH, an epidemiologist in the CDC’s Division of Overdose Prevention, and colleagues retrospectively analyzed ED surveillance data to detect quarterly trends of suspected drug overdoses from April 2016 through September 2019 among three age groups — 0 to 10 years, 11 to 14 years and 15 to 24 years.
During the study period, there were 89,536,857 ED visits among children aged 0 to 24 years — 39,575,938 among those aged 0 to 10 years, 9,330,693 among those aged 11 to 14 years and 40,630,226 among those aged 15 to 24 years.
Among children aged 0 to 10 years, there was an average of 22.3 suspected all-drug overdoses, 0.7 suspected opioid overdoses and 0.6 suspected stimulant overdoses per 10,000 ED visits, according to the study.
In the next oldest age group, there was an average of 43.2 suspected all-drug overdoses, 0.6 suspected opioid overdoses and 0.7 suspected stimulant overdoses per 10,000 ED visits.
In the oldest age group, there was an average of 85.2 suspected all-drug overdoses, 13.2 suspected opioid overdoses, 2.65 suspected stimulant overdoses and 6.95 suspected heroin overdoses per 10,000 ED visits.
There was a positive increase in the average quarterly percent change (AQPC) across all three age groups for suspected stimulant overdoses. According to Roehler, examples of stimulants included in the study were cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy and other psychostimulants.
In children aged 0 to 10 years, the AQPC increased by 3.3; in those aged 11 to 14 years, the AQPC increased by 4; and in those aged 15 to 24 years, the AQPC increased by 2.3.
There was an average increase of two all-drug overdoses in those aged 0 to 10 years and 2.3 in those aged 11 to 14 years. However, suspected heroin overdoses decreased by 3.3 on average per quarter for those aged 15 to 24 years.
“It’s important for providers to be aware of these trends so they can be better prepared to identify problematic substance use behaviors among youth and more likely to intervene,” Roehler told Healio.
Roehler said research is needed on effective long-term, evidence-based interventions in order to prevent and treat substance abuse disorders among pediatric patients.
“However, the most promising interventions involve a multifaceted approach,” he said. “Interventions that include aspects of individual, school, family and community coordinated care have shown promise at reducing or preventing substance use among youth.”
Roehler said the primary prevention message is that parents need to lock away their drugs in order to prevent their children from being able to access them.
“A secondary prevention message is the need to recognize that although substance use disorders among youth may be uncommon, they are not less harmful than in adults,” Roehler said. “Parents and providers need to recognize signs of substance use and take early action.”