Opioid Crisis – A Complex Epidemic

Opioid overdose deaths occurring among adults between the ages of 25 and 44 are twice the death from COVID-19 is explained in a study by the University of Cincinnati published in journal Plos one that identifies at-risk populations and 25 geographic hot spots using data from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The study also correlates fatal overdoses and mental and physical distress using surveys of physically and mentally unhealthy days during these pandemic days, which increases the relative risk of dying from a drug overdose by as much as 39% and discovers increasing risk in black males aged 30 to 34 years.

"What's happening now is we're more than a year into a pandemic. Mental health has deteriorated for the entire population, which means we'll see a surge in opiate overdoses." said Cuadros, UC assistant professor and co-author.

This strong association between mental health and opioids overdose emphasizes on preventive mental health measures of vulnerable population than routine treatments like naloxone and other lifesaving remedies for substance abuse.

Even this finding helps health policymakers and clinicians to identify factors making opioid overuse as complex epidemic associated with an increased risk death due to substance use disorder in individual and community-level.



Source-Eurekalert