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A new study of accidental poisoning in children under 5 shows a significant increase in the number of infants dying from opioid overdoses in the United States.
The study, published Wednesday in the journal Pediatrics, examined a national database and found 731 children under the age of five had poison-related deaths. Between 2005 and 2018, some children became addicted to over-the-counter pain relievers, cold remedies, and allergy medications, but opioids were by far the most fatal poisonings. bottom.
The trend has gotten worse over time. In 2005, opioids accounted for 24.1% (7 of 29) of substances contributing to child deaths, compared with 52.2% (24 of 46) in 2018.
“Looking at this data, it’s really amazing to see how different the 2005 and 2018 ratios are. Addiction.
The number of fatal poisonings in this age group is Decrease since the passage of 1970 Poison Prevention Packaging Lawother studies show when hard-to-open, child-proof packaging has become the norm for many medicines.
Gaw believes that people’s preferences for certain drugs are changing, which is affecting the death toll.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, prescription-based opioids were the drug of choice.As guidelines become more stringent doctor And dentists realized the opioid epidemic, less prescription Opioids have turned people to things like heroin and fentanyl.
illicit drug use, such as FentanylIt’s 100 times more powerful than morphine and kills instantly.
A new study builds on the work shown steady increase An increase in the number of children dying from opioids and the number of adult deaths. According to him, drug overdose deaths have increased fivefold since 1999. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and PreventionOf the 91,799 overdose deaths in 2020, nearly 75% were opioid-related.
drug safety initiative Reducing the number of opioids in circulation has helped reduce opioid use to some extent, but studies show that this initiative fails to address the illegal drug trade.
A new study can’t explain how the young victims got their hands on the drugs, but it does provide details about the circumstances under which these deaths occurred.
The Child Protective Services Division had released case files of 97 children who died. Of those, 153 of them had a record of child abuse, and nearly a third of those who died with a history of abuse were under the age of one.
More than two-fifths of children who died were infants under the age of one.
Over 65% of deaths occurred at home. Nearly a third of him was under the supervision of someone who was not his biological parent.
Accidental overdose accounted for more than 40% of deaths in documented cases. Just under 18% were considered intentional poisoning.
Researchers in the new study pulled records for all children under the age of five from the National Fatality Review-Case Reporting System. In a database of death records for 40 US states, various interdisciplinary groups investigate child deaths within their jurisdictions. The American Poisoning Center maintains its own data on childhood poisoning deaths and has found similar trends.
“A common finding at the poison center level is that opioids are associated with some of the highest rates of childhood mortality compared to other substances,” said Dr. Poison Control Center Association of America, clinical managing director. Kate Brown said. new research.
Brown also noticed a decrease in exposure to prescription opioids such as hydrocodone and oxycodone, and an increase in exposure to fentanyl. I’m here.
“Most of the time it’s accidental that children are exposed,” Brown said. People sometimes store their prescriptions in easy-to-open pill organizers rather than children’s bottles. Pills can fall in the open where small children can easily find them.
Gaw says most of these young victims probably find drugs while exploring the world around them.
“So kids move around as they grow and develop. They explore their environment. They love to put things in their mouths,” he said.
Gau said it’s important for health care providers to remind caregivers that the best way to keep children safe is to focus on preparation and prevention.
“Keep any hazardous substance out of reach, out of sight, away from children’s heads and preferably behind a locked cabinet,” he said. I got
If you have unused medicine, you can take it to the pharmacy or another safe disposal site instead of throwing it in the trash.
Gaw encourages all caregivers to have the poison control number (800) 222-1222 handy.
He hopes his research will encourage health care providers to educate parents about the risks the drug poses. He also hopes that naloxone, an opioid antidote, also known as Narcan, will become more widely available.
In February, two independent advisory boards of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously in favor of increasing access by making naloxone nasal spray available over the counter. FDA Commissioners are considering these recommendations and may make decisions at any time.
Gau said it’s also important that health care systems continue to find ways to limit the number of opioids in the environment of young children. He says he will.
“It’s incredibly sad, but I think it’s really important to highlight that children are at risk too, and we don’t want them to be forgotten in this epidemic.” , pertaining to the larger world in which they are.”
