Kids, Teenagers Getting Poisoned By Opioid Painkillers: Study

In a new study it is found teenagers as well as young children are increasingly being poisoned by opioid painkillers which are usually prescribed by other family members.

In 2012 there was 165 percent increase in children hospitalization compared to that of 1997.

Postdoctoral fellow at Yale School of Public Health, Julie Gaither, said lately opioids are ubiquitous and their study found enough opioids are prescribed to children and teenagers to put a bottle of painkillers in every household every year.

Gaither is the lead author of the study and added opioids are now everywhere and kids are having it into them.

In 1997 the hospitalization rate was 1.40 per 100,000 kids and in 2012 the rate increased to 3.71 per 100,000 younger members.

Details of the study are published in JAMA Pediatrics journal.

More than 13,000 hospital-discharge records were included in the study. The data were between 1997 and 2012 for opioid poisonings.

The data was collected by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

It is also found teenagers are more likely to be hospitalized for deliberate poisoning due to high risk of depression and suicide. In 2012 the rate was 10.17 per 100,000 teenagers.

The author said public health approaches are required to address overprescribing and also to raise awareness for safe storage of painkillers.