This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

CDC: Painkiller overdoses 'skyrocketed' among women

The number of fatal overdoses from prescription opioids among women has increased steadily since 1999, according to an early-release Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

"Prescription drug overdose deaths have skyrocketed in women," CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, MD, MPH, said during a teleconference. "Mothers, wives, sisters and daughters are dying from overdoses at rates we have never seen before."

 

Thomas R. Frieden

According to the report, which used data from the National Vital Statistics System and the Drug Abuse Warning Network, 15,323 deaths among women were linked to drug overdoses in 2010, a rate of 9.8 per 100,000 population. A total of 6,631 women — approximately 18 women every day — died of an opioid prescription overdose in 2010, representing a fivefold increase from 1999 (1,287), with 47,935 deaths during the 11-year study period. The mortality rate for opioid prescription overdoses among women (4.2 per 100,000 population) was four times greater than the rate for cocaine and heroin deaths combined (1 per 100,000 population), CDC researchers said.

In 2010, 943,365 women visited the ED for opioid misuse or abuse (601 per 100,000 population), or approximately one every 3 minutes. According to the CDC, 34% of all suicides among women involved drug overdoses vs. 8% among men. Although men are more likely to die of an overdose, the increase in overdose deaths between 1999 and 2010 was greater among women (151%) vs. men (85%).

According to Frieden, women are more likely to experience chronic pain, be prescribed prescription opioids and at higher doses, and use prescription drugs for longer periods of time compared with men.

"It may be that this is because some of the most common forms pain are more prevalent among women," he said. "[Women are] more likely to have abdominal pain, migraine, musculoskeletal pain than men are."

According to Frieden, the increase in overdoses among women is "directly proportional to the increase in prescribing of painkillers."

To combat opioid misuse and abuse, the CDC is urging health care providers to follow clinical guidelines, such as screening patients for substance abuse and mental health problems; implement prescription drug monitoring programs; discuss the risks vs. benefits of opioid prescriptions with patients; and avoid prescribing opioids in combination with benzodiazepines unless there is a specific medical indication.

CDC researcher Christopher M. Jones, PharmD, said there has been a large push to treat pain and little information about how to properly prescribe the medication.

"Opioids certainly have a place in the treatment of pain," he said. "Our goal is to make sure that they're being used for the right patients, in the right quantities and in the right dose."

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.