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MONDAY, June 25, 2018 (HealthDay News) – Young American children are sick – and even dying – after being poisoned by a drug used to fight opiate addiction, a new report argues.
Investigators reported that between 2007 and 2016, more than 11,000 emergency calls were sent to US poison control centers after a child or adolescent was exposed to buprenorphine, a powerful Prescription drug that helps people to get rid of opioids.
The vast majority of calls (86%) involved children under 6 years of age and almost all of these cases were due to accidental exposure. Eleven of the children died, according to the report.
However, not all cases were purely accidental. Among those aged 13 to 19, three-quarters of the calls involved intentional use of the drug, resulting in four deaths, according to the researchers.
"Although buprenorphine is important for the treatment of opioid use disorder, pediatric exposure to this drug can lead to serious adverse outcomes," said Dr. Gary Smith, author of the report. ;study. The drug can cause extreme drowsiness and / or vomiting when it is poorly taken, he explained.
In addition, Smith suggested that the magnitude of the problem may be greater than the current figures suggest, since "all pediatric exposures to buprenorphine are not reported to poison centers".
The result, he said, is that "the safe storage of all opioids, including buprenorphine, is crucial. Parents and caregivers who take buprenorphine must store it safely: high, far, and out of view.
Health care providers could help, Smith said, by proactively discussing the issue and best practices of safety protocols with parents and caregivers of young children.
And teens, Smith added, should be counseled on the risks involved when it comes to drug abuse of this kind.
Smith is Professor of Pediatrics, Emergency Medicine and Epidemiology at Ohio State University, and Director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus. , Ohio.
He and his colleagues published their results online on June 25 in the journal Pediatrics.
The increase in pediatric poisoning coincides with the epidemic of opioid engulfing the United States. Between 2001 and 2016, the number of opioid-related deaths more than quadrupled. In 2016, one in 65 deaths nationwide was linked to an opioid overdose – that it 's an opioid analgesic such as OxyContin or OxyContin. of an illegal drug like heroin.
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