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A new study reveals that calls to the US poison control centers for the herbal supplement kratom have increased dramatically in recent years.
According to the study, calls to US poison control centers for kratom exposure increased 50-fold, from 13 calls in 2011 to 682 in 2017. In total, more than 1,800 calls related to exposure to kratom were recorded during the seven-year study. period.
Kratom, or Mitragyna speciosa, is a plant that grows in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, according to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In recent years, its increasing use as an herbal supplement, which people say take to treat pain, anxiety or depression, as well as opioid withdrawal symptoms, has attracted the most attention. National attention.
Health officials have expressed concern about this substance. Last year, the FDA declared that it considered kratom an opioid because of its interaction with opioid receptors, and warned the public not to use it. Indeed, there is no use approved by the FDA for kratom, but since the substance is sold as a dietary supplement, it is not regulated in the same way as the drugs on prescription in terms of quality, purity and accuracy of dosage, said the authors of the study. [5 Things to Know About Kratom].
In more than half of the cases identified in the study, the person exposed to kratom experienced moderate or severe health effects including seizures, difficulty breathing, coma, kidney failure, and cardiac arrest. Eleven of the patients died, and most of these deaths occurred in patients who used kratom with at least one other drug.
The findings suggest that although kratom is currently classified as an herbal supplement by the FDA does not mean that it is safe, said study co-author, Henry Spiller, Director of the Central Poison Center of the Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, in a report. "People who choose to use kratom should be aware of the potential risk," said Spiller, including risks associated with the use of kratom with other drugs.
The study was published today (February 21) in the journal Clinical Toxicology.
Concern about kratom
As part of this study, researchers analyzed information from the National Poison Data System, which contains data on calls to US poison control centers.
Although the study includes data dating back to 2011, 65% of the 1,800 calls included in the analysis were received in the last two years of the study, in 2016 and 2017.
The majority of cases (71%) were men and almost all were over 20 years old.
About one-third of cases required admission to a health facility. The most common health effects were agitation / irritability, rapid heart rate, nausea, drowsiness / lethargy, vomiting, confusion, and hypertension. Nearly 10% of patients had disabling or life-threatening effects.
The researchers found that those taking another medication with kratom were twice as likely to have a serious medical outcome as those who took kratom alone. Of the 11 people who died, nine reportedly took another medicine containing kratom, including alcohol, diphenhydramine (an allergy medicine), benzodiazepines (anti-anxiety medications), fentanyl, and cocaine.
About 2.5% of calls were related to kratom exposure in children under 12, and most of them were children under 2 years old. Seven of the calls reported cases in newborns, five of whom exhibited withdrawal symptoms due to exposure in the uterus. A newborn would have been exposed while breastfeeding.
"As doctors, we must inform pregnant women of the risks associated with the use of kratom during pregnancy and during breastfeeding," Spiller said.
The researchers also asked the FDA to increase its regulation of kratom. "At a minimum, kratom-based products must be free of potentially harmful contaminants, provide uniform resistance to active ingredients, and be labeled appropriately," the researchers wrote in their article. "Increased regulation of kratom products would help to ensure the quality and safety of products."
Originally published on Science live.
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