Surge in prescription opioid poisoning among U.S. youth

By Lisa Rapaport (Reuters Health) - The number of children and teens hospitalized for prescription opioid poisonings has more than doubled in recent years, with both accidental overdoses and suicide attempts on the rise, a U.S. study suggests. Annually, the rate of these opioid poisonings among youth up to 19 years old surged from 1.4 per 100,000 children in 1997 to 3.71 per 100,000 kids by 2012, the study found. “I believe that the two-fold increase in hospitalization rates over time for opioid poisonings in children are a direct consequence of the increasing reliance in the U.S. on opioid analgesics to treat acute and chronic pain,” said lead study author Dr. Julie Gaither, a public health researcher at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.