Children overdose of drugs to fight against opioid addiction

Young American children are disgusted – and even dying – after being poisoned by a drug used to fight opioid addiction, a new report says.

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 wean people from 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 "safe storage of all opioids, including buprenorphine, is crucial. Parents and caregivers who take buprenorphine should store it safely: standing, away and out of sight. In a locked cabinet, it's better. "

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 of Pediatric poisonings coincides with the epidemic of opioids 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 related to opioid overdose – That it is an opioid analgesic like OxyContin or an illegal drug like heroin.

The authors of the study stated that between 2005 and 2010, the annual number of patients who received a buprenorphine prescription increased from 100,000 to more than 800,000.

The new study analyzed information covering 2007 to 2016 from the National Poison Data System.

Among calls to poison control centers involving young children, 45% ended up with the child being taken to a health center, and about one-fifth of the calls were found to be serious medical conditions.

For teens, just over a fifth was admitted to the hospital, and about the same percentage were severe cases. About a quarter of adolescents used other substances in addition to buprenorphine. And 150 cases were considered the result of a suicide attempt, the study's authors said.

In addition to safe storage and advice, another way to reduce risk could be to change the way buprenorphine is packaged, Smith suggested.

"Drug manufacturers should use unit dose packages – often called blister packs – for all products containing buprenorphine to prevent unintentional access and exposure of young children," he said. -he declares.

This idea was supported by Dr. George Sam Wang, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado, and pediatric emergency physician at Colorado Children's Hospital.

"We have already shown that single-dose packaging – a form of child-resistant packaging – can decrease pediatric exposure to buprenorphine-naloxone products," Wang said. He was part of a team that recently reported that the move to single-dose packaging resulted in a 79% decrease in the number of unintentional exposures in children under 6 years of age.

D. Christopher Garrett is Senior Media Advisor at the Communications Office of the US Administration for Addiction and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA). He said it's important to take steps to protect children, while stressing the need to continue to encourage those fighting opioid addiction to get the best opioid treatment available.

"SAMHSA hopes that all parents and guardians will be cautious in preventing their children from having access to all medications. Proper storage and disposal of all medications is essential to prevent harmful exposure to children, "said Garrett.

"We continue to work through funding and training, however, to expand access to drug treatment (MAT) that incorporates drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration such as buprenorphine," he added. "We know that MAT is the scientifically proven standard to help people with opioid use disorders recover and return to a productive life."

Garrett said anyone looking for help should contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).