CDC Reports Synthetic Opioid Deaths Rose In Recent Years

CDC Reports Synthetic Opioid Deaths Rose In Recent Years

Introduction

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), issued on Friday, indicated that from 2013 to 2019, the age-adjusted rate of deaths, which involved fentanyl, and other synthetic versions of the addictive opioid pain killers have skyrocketed.

The national public health institute evaluated the drug overdose deaths nationwide using data from the National Vital Statistics System. According to the report, overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids, other than methadone, increased by 1,040% from 2013 to 2019.

The report indicates that the western states experienced a 68% increase in synthetic opioid overdose deaths during the period. It also reported that overdose deaths involving psychostimulants increased by 317%.

In 2013, synthetic opioids accounted for 3,100 deaths and there were 3,600 overdose deaths involving psychostimulants. Both the numbers increased by 2019 with synthetic opioids accounting for 36,000 deaths and psychostimulants accounting for 16,000 deaths.

The researchers warned that intervention and prevention efforts are required to help with drug abuse and overdose. They further wrote that evidence-based prevention and response strategies, including substance use disorder treatment and overdose prevention and response efforts focused on polysubstance use, must be adapted to address the changing drug overdose epidemic.

In January, a new study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in which researchers indicated that the rates of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) and maternal opioid-diagnosis (MOD) increased by 82% and 131%, respectively, in the U.S. during 2010-2017.

In this study, the researchers concluded that the estimated rates of NAS and MOD significantly increased nationally and for the majority of states, with a notable state-level variation.