Prescription opioid overdoses have been imposing a significant burden on U.S. hospitals.
A national study that looked at hospital emergency department visits for opioid overdoses found a whopping 67.8 percent involved prescription opioids such as methadone, followed by heroin, The JAMA Network Journals reported. About half of the patients in the study who went to the emergency room for opioid overdoses were admitted to the hospital, costing the nation about $2.3 billion.
"Opioids are medications that relieve pain. They reduce the intensity of pain signals reaching the brain and affect those brain areas controlling emotion, which diminishes the effects of a painful stimulus. Medications that fall within this class include hydrocodone (e.g., Vicodin), oxycodone (e.g., OxyContin, Percocet), morphine (e.g., Kadian, Avinza), codeine, and related drugs," the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported.
Opioid overdoses are a leading cause of death in the U.S., but only 6.1 percent are related to heroin and 13.4 to unspecified opioids. The researchers found the greatest proportion of prescription opioid overdoses occurred in urban areas, in the South and among women. While the death rate for these overdoes was relatively low one the patients reached the emergency room, the researchers suggest and increased use of emergency services for these patients.
Most of the patients who overdosed had conditions such as chronic mental health, circulatory and respiratory diseases, so health care providers are urged to prescribe opioids to these individuals with caution and provide counseling to those who do take the medications.
"Opioid overdose exacts a significant financial and health care utilization burden on the U.S. health care system. Most patients in our sample overdosed on prescription opioids, suggesting that further efforts to stem the prescription opioid overdose epidemic are urgently needed," the study concludes.
The researchers noted an author of the paper has made a conflict of interest disclosure.
The study was funded by the Stanford University School of Medicine and other sources. It was published Oct, 27 in the journal JAMA Intern Med.
