Many studies have highlighted how doctors and physicians are unnecessarily prescribing painkillers to their patients. This can have dramatic consequences on a person's health, as severe as death. A new study found that in the last few years, deaths from prescribed painkillers has risen dramatically, surpassing the number of deaths from overdose of heroin and cocaine.
In 2010 alone, 16,000 deaths in the United States were due to painkiller consumption. For the study, researchers conducted a meta-analysis of previous work conducted on similar grounds.
"Prescription painkiller overdoses have received a lot of attention in editorials and the popular press, but we wanted to find out what solid evidence is out there," said Nicholas King, of the Biomedical Ethics Unit in the Faculty of Medicine in a statement. "We wanted to find out why thousands of people in the U.S and Canada are dying from prescription painkillers every year, and why these rates have climbed steadily during the past two decades."
"We found evidence for at least 17 different determinants of increasing opioid-related mortality, mainly, dramatically increased prescription and sales of opioids; increased use of strong, long-acting opioids like Oxycontin and methadone; combined use of opioids and other (licit and illicit) drugs and alcohol; and social and demographic factors."
The findings of this study are very important because they can help reduce the number of preventable deaths in the country. Researchers said that physicians, healthcare professionals and doctors can play a role in bringing down the numbers. They need to be cautious when prescribing such drugs.
Earlier this month, the City of Chicago filed a lawsuit against five pharmaceutical companies alleging that they deceptively marketed opioid painkillers like Percocet and OxyContin for chronic pain management even though the companies knew the drugs were ineffective in treating chronic pain and carried a high risk of addiction.
Drug overdose deaths, the majority of which are caused by prescription painkillers, have more than tripled since 1990, according to the CDC.
The study was published in the American Journal of Public Health.
