The woes of West Virginia, California and Rhode Island have in common

The opioid crisis is a national health emergency, but some states are more affected than others.

According to Fair Health, a nonprofit market research firm based in New York, California, Rhode Island, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Florida suffer the most from opioid abuse, which analyzed $ 26 billion medical and dental insurance billed from 2002 to 2017.

"Using this database, the national heat map represents opioid abuse and addiction [insurance] claims lines as a percentage of the total number of medical claims lines by state in 2017, "the researchers said. The darkest colors have the highest percentages of claims.

The company established how each state was affected by opioids, as well as the medical help received by residents, the total cost of these procedures, as well as the age and socioeconomic background of the patients. West Virginia recorded the largest number of opioid-related claims last year, according to the report.

The type of treatment varied by state:

• "The administration of methadone was particularly associated with the Northeast, while another drug, the injection of naltrexone, was more closely associated with the Midwest."

• "Outpatient rehabilitation services were more related to the South and West than to other regions."

• "Southern countries relied more on testing than on therapeutic procedures, while the West attached great importance to treatment."

• "Only in New York, the group council was one of the five most common procedures in terms of use and cost."

• "Only five states – Delaware, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin – included psychotherapy, or 45 minutes, among the five most common procedures, depending on their use.

In West Virginia, the death rate was 43.4 per 100,000 in 2016, down from 1.8 per 100,000 in 1999, according to a separate report from the National Institute for the Fight Against Drug Abuse. drug addicts. In the United States, the number of opioid-related deaths increased from 1.8 per 100,000 in 1999 to 13.3 per 100,000 in 2016.

In West Virginia, the number of overdose deaths peaked at 733 deaths in 2016 "with a majority of deaths attributed to synthetic opioids and heroin," according to the National Institute of Anti-Ointment. Drug abuse. The prescription rate for opioids was 42% higher in West Virginia (110 per 100 people) than in the rest of the United States (70 per cent) in 2013.

Drugs and prescriptions have shifted away from illicit drugs such as fentanyl and heroin between 2012 and 2014, according to a January government government proposal responding to the opioid crisis. Officials also said more needs to be done to prevent health professionals from prescribing some opioid-related painkillers and expanding programs focused on maintaining order.

See: Opioids only partially explain the American "death of despair"

Why do some states have higher opioid consumption than others? The numbers differ as to the rate of use and misuse of opioids in different states, but experts explain that the causes are related to the rate of opioids prescribed and the infrastructure of public health in place to deal with opioid addiction. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some states have experienced a significant increase in prescription opioid mortality rates: West Virginia, Maryland, Maine, and Utah.

This, coupled with an influx of illegal opioids, has contributed to abuses in some areas, experts said. "Effective and synchronized programs to prevent drug overdoses will require coordination between law enforcement, first responders, mental health / addiction service providers, public health agencies and community partners," said Puja Seth. , lead author of the CDC report on state drug addiction, which was released in March.

In addition to the proliferation of medical prescriptions, residents of states where household income is low may be more prone to opioid abuse. Low-income Americans may not be able to provide alternative care or surgery, which effectively means they would need more opioid prescriptions to treat chronic pain . Another problem: Some people may not be able to stay away from work and / or not be able to pay to go to clinics for regular care.

The shortage of appropriate treatment centers may also play a major role in the death rate by state. Methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone are the three drugs used to combat the effects of opioid addiction, and treatment centers need at least three specific treatments to treat opioid addicts, according to the review HealthAffairs.org.

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Treatments for opioid abuse varied widely from one state to the other. In some states, including New York, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Arizona, patients were more likely to receive behavioral treatments (such as psychotherapy). Others, mainly in Delaware, Maine, Oregon and Connecticut, have used a mix of behavioral treatments and medications. California, Missouri, Utah, Kansas and Illinois were the first five states to receive hospital treatment.

The opioid abuse empire. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are an estimated 71,500 drug overdose deaths in the 12-month period ending in January, compared to 67,000 expected deaths in the previous 12-month period . Even more deaths are in the study. Nebraska experienced the largest increase in overdoses (33%), although it still figured among the least affected states, according to the Fair Health study.

According to a report from the Council of Economic Advisers, the crisis would cost the country more than $ 500 billion a year starting in 2015. President Trump said he would consider suing the "bad actors" , Including businesses.

In March, the president called for more ways to fight the opioid epidemic, including urging the Justice Ministry to increase death sentences against drug traffickers and asking for more money. greater support from the federal government for overdose reversal drugs, including naloxone.

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