Drug overdose deaths have quadrupled among older US adults

Fatal drug overdoses amongst older adults within the US have quadrupled over the previous twenty years, indicating that the issue isn’t solely affecting younger folks.

Drug overdose deaths have steadily elevated within the US since 1999, largely because of the proliferation of prescription and illicit opioids like morphine, oxycodone and fentanyl.

“There’s been a lot of focus on overdose among younger people,” says Chelsea Shover on the University of California, Los Angeles. “We wanted to understand to what degree is that happening among older adults.”

She and her colleagues collected information on overdose deaths in adults 65 years and older from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s WONDER database. The database tracks each fatality recorded within the nation, together with the particular person’s age, race, gender and reason for demise.

The researchers discovered that between 2002 and 2021, charges of deadly overdoses quadrupled amongst older adults. In 2002, three out of each 100,000 adults 65 years and older within the US died from a drug overdose. In 2021, that quantity elevated to 12 out of each 100,000. Rates had been highest amongst non-Hispanic Black folks and Native Americans, although Asian and non-Hispanic white folks had increased charges of intentional overdose deaths. For reference, 62 out of each 100,000 adults between 35 and 44 years outdated within the US died from drug overdose in 2021.

Most deadly drug overdoses amongst older adults in 2021 concerned illicit medication, however 37 per cent concerned prescription drugs. Opioids, together with prescription opioids, performed a job in 57 per cent of overdose deaths.

“Compared to other portions of the population, older adults are generally prescribed more things, including more drugs that can lead to overdose, whether alone or combined,” says Shover. They additionally don’t metabolise medication as effectively, which will increase overdose threat, says Alexis Kuerbis at Hunter College in New York, who wasn’t concerned within the examine

“Understanding the scope of this problem is important to enact better policies to provide more equitable healthcare for older adults,” says Shover. For instance, Medicare – the federal medical health insurance programme for older adults within the US – isn’t required to cowl psychological well being and substance use dysfunction remedy to the identical diploma as different well being circumstances, she says.