Kids Dying from Opioids

Julie R. Gaither, Veronika Shabanova, and John M. Leventhal have an article at JAMA Network Open titled "National Trends in Pediatric Deaths From Prescription and Illicit Opioids, 1999-2016."

Question How have US mortality rates for pediatric opioid poisonings changed over the past 2 decades?

Findings In this cross-sectional study, 8986 children and adolescents died between 1999 and 2016 from prescription and illicit opioid poisonings. During this time, the mortality rate increased 268.2%.

Meaning Pediatric-specific and family-centered interventions are needed to address pediatric opioid poisonings, a growing public health problem in the United States.

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Conclusions and Relevance Over 18 years, nearly 9000 children and adolescents died from opioid poisonings, and the mortality rate increased nearly 3-fold. These findings suggest that the opioid epidemic is likely to remain a growing public health problem in the young unless legislators, public health officials, clinicians, and parents take a wider view of the opioid crisis and implement protective measures that are pediatric specific and family centered.