Deaths from painkiller overdose triple in decade

STEPHANIE NANO,Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The num­ber of over­dose deaths from pow­er­ful painkillers more than tripled over a decade, the gov­ern­ment reported Tues­day — a trend the nation’s top health offi­cial called an epi­demic, but one that can be stopped.

Pre­scrip­tion painkillers such as Oxy­Con­tin, Vicodin and methadone led to the deaths of almost 15,000 peo­ple in 2008, includ­ing actor Heath Ledger. That’s more than three times the 4,000 deaths in 1999.

Such painkillers “are meant to help peo­ple who have severe pain,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, direc­tor of the Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol and Pre­ven­tion in Atlanta, which issued the report. “They are, how­ever, highly addictive.”

The report shows nearly 5 per­cent of Amer­i­cans ages 12 and older said they’ve abused painkillers in the past year — using them with­out a pre­scrip­tion or just for the high. In 2008-09 sur­veys, Okla­homans reported the high­est rate of abuse; the low­est was in Nebraska and Iowa.

The over­dose deaths reflect the spike in the num­ber of nar­cotic painkillers pre­scribed every year — enough to give every Amer­i­can a one-month sup­ply, Frieden said.

Pre­scrip­tions rose as doc­tors aimed to bet­ter treat pain and as new painkillers hit the market.

Frieden and White House drug czar Gil Ker­likowske, who joined him at CDC head­quar­ters in Atlanta, said states need to take sharp actions to reverse the long-running trend.

States over­see pre­scrip­tion prac­tices and can rig­or­ously mon­i­tor pre­scrip­tions and crack down on “pill mills” and “doc­tor shop­ping” by patients, Frieden said. Doc­tors should limit pre­scrip­tions — giv­ing only a three-day sup­ply for acute pain, for exam­ple — and look for alter­na­tive treat­ments, he said.

“For chronic pain, nar­cotics should be the last resort,” he added.

A fed­eral drug plan announced this year calls for state pro­grams to track pre­scrip­tions. All but two states — Mis­souri and New Hamp­shire — have approved them, said Ker­likowske. But a num­ber of states don’t have them in place yet or doc­tors aren’t using them enough to check on their patients’ past pre­scrip­tions, he said.

“America’s pre­scrip­tion drug abuse epi­demic is not a prob­lem that’s going to be solved overnight, but at the same time, we’re not pow­er­less,” said Kerlikowske.

He urged par­ents to get rid of unneeded or expired painkillers so they aren’t misused.

Over­all, there were 36,450 fatal over­doses in 2008, includ­ing acci­den­tal cases and sui­cides involv­ing ille­gal drugs like heroin and cocaine along with pre­scrip­tion med­i­cines. About three-quarters of the deaths from pre­scrip­tions involved nar­cotic painkillers.

Ledger died that year from an acci­den­tal over­dose of painkillers and sedatives.

Other find­ings of the CDC report:

— New Mex­ico had the high­est over­dose death rate (27 per 100,000) and Nebraska had the low­est (5.5). The national rate was 11.9.

— Fatal over­doses were more likely in men, middle-aged adults and whites and Amer­i­can Indians.

— Sales of pre­scrip­tion painkillers are high­est in the South­east and Northwest.

Frieden noted the wide dif­fer­ences between over­dose death rates among states. For exam­ple, West Virginia’s rate is about 26 per 100,000 while neigh­bor­ing Virginia’s rate is only 9.

“This high­lights the impor­tance of states get­ting poli­cies right on pre­vent­ing drug abuse,” he said.

Online:

CDC report: http://cdc.gov/mmwr/

Copy­right 2011 The Asso­ci­ated Press.

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