A study conducted by researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) found that opioids are responsible for more than half of the fatal poisonings in children under the age of five. This number he has more than doubled since 2005. Over-the-counter medications are responsible for deadly addictions in this age group despite increased regulation. Researchers stress the need for improved interventions to prevent further fatal poisonings.
Researchers find rates of fatal opioid poisoning in children have more than doubled in 13 years
Over-the-counter drugs also continue to pose fatal risks to young children, despite efforts to reduce exposure.
Researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have found that opioids are responsible for more than half of the fatal poisonings in children under the age of five. That’s more than double his rate of fatal opioid poisonings in 2005. Despite tightening regulations, it still causes fatal poisoning in this age group.Findings published today in the journal Pediatricsunderlines the need for improved interventions to prevent further fatal poisonings.
More than half of all reported poisonings affect children under the age of five, and they have the highest rates of emergency room visits for unintentional drug-related poisoning. Although child-safe packaging of many medicines and hazardous products has greatly reduced the number of fatal unintentional poisonings among young children, the growing opioid epidemic in the United States has contributed to recent child poisoning deaths. I’m here.
Conducting a large-scale study of lethal poisoning in young children in the United States has been difficult for researchers. Every state conducts research into child deaths to find out how and why these deaths occur and what steps can be taken to prevent them. Child mortality investigations are conducted by teams that often take a multidisciplinary approach when investigating childhood mortality. The National Center for Fatality Review and Prevention provides resources for these child death reviews and maintains a reporting system that collects data from these commissions.
Opioids are a class of drugs commonly used to treat pain. They bind to specific receptors in the brain and spinal cord to reduce the sensation of pain. Opioids are sometimes prescribed by doctors for short-term pain management after surgery or injury, or for chronic pain conditions such as cancer and arthritis. There is also a possibility that it will be. Commonly abused opioids include prescription pain relievers such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, and illicit drugs such as heroin. Opioid abuse can cause a variety of adverse health effects, including respiratory depression, overdose, and death.
“By comprehensively assessing fatal poisonings in children at the national level, we have been able to better understand the scale of this tragic and preventable public health problem,” said the first study author. Yes, says Christopher Gau, M.D., Fellow in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at the Center for Poison Control. and CHOP’s Center for Injury Research and Prevention. “We were also able to specifically characterize the proportion of poisoning deaths that could be attributed to opioids each year.”
The researchers used data from 40 states participating in the National Fatality Review-Case Reporting System for poisoning deaths in children under the age of 5 from 2005 to 2018. During that period, 731 poisoning-related deaths were reported by the Child Mortality Review.
Researchers found that more than two-fifths of these poisoning deaths occurred among children under the age of one, and more than 65% of these deaths occurred at home. Nearly a third of children who die from poisoning were supervised by someone other than their biological parent. Opioids were the most common substance contributing to death, followed by over-the-counter drugs for pain, colds and allergies.In 2005, opioids contributed to 24.1% of deaths, although this The percentage increased to 52.2% by 2018.
The authors found that while initiatives focused on reducing opioid prescriptions temporarily reduced these deaths in the early 2010s, heroin and[{” attribute=””>fentanyl—have reversed prior public health gains. Additionally, while medication safety initiatives like unit dose packaging have shown promise in reducing these unintended exposures, the approach does not address all prescription opioids or illicit opioids.
“It’s clear from these findings that preventing fatal pediatric poisonings requires a multifaceted approach involving caregiver education and community-level interventions,” said senior study author Daniel J. Corwin, MD, MSCE, an attending physician and Associate Director of Research in the Division of Emergency Medicine at CHOP. “One such intervention is improving the availability of naloxone for the public, which can rapidly reverse opioid overdose and is safe and effective for use in children.”
Reference: “Characteristics of Fatal Poisonings Among Infants and Young Children in the United States” by Christopher E. Gaw, MD, MBE; Allison E. Curry, PhD, MPH; Kevin C. Osterhoudt, MD, MSCE; Joanne N. Wood, MD, MSHP and Daniel J. Corwin, MD, MSCE, 8 March 2023, Pediatrics.
DOI: 10.1542/peds.2022-059016
