A new study has revealed young people in the U.S. lost more than 1 million years of life due to accidental drug overdoses between 2015 and 2019.
The study, which was published in JAMA Pediatrics on Monday, may be one of the first to determine the number of lives lost to unintentional drug overdoses among young people.
Researchers examined data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on overdose deaths between 2015 and 2019 to calculate the total number of years of life lost for 10- to 19-year-olds who died during that time period. Unintentional drug overdoses resulted in the loss of 1.25 million years of life when the data was expanded to cover people up to the age of 24.
"This is just completely unacceptable from a public health standpoint, because every one of these deaths is preventable," study co-author Dr. Orman T. Hall, a psychiatry specialist at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, said.
The findings, according to Hall, also demonstrate that public health programs geared at adults are unlikely to perform as well for people of all ages.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that all teenage patients be screened for substance abuse.
If the adolescent's drug screen comes back positive, the association advises pediatricians to investigate whether substance abuse is interfering with the teen's daily activities or endangering their safety. Doctors are asked to speak with the teen, as well as their parents, about the hazards of drugs and their effects on the brain, and then send them for treatment.
According to studies, there are several effective evidence-based treatments for teenagers. Motivational enhancement therapy has been shown to be effective. It assists people in increasing their drive to stop using, developing a strategy for change, and developing coping techniques for high-risk situations. Cognitive behavioral treatment can also be beneficial.
More doctors must also be trained to work with patients who have substance abuse issues. Even brief training sessions can improve a pediatrician's capacity to help young children.
Researchers believe that more people should be trained and licensed to dispense buprenorphine and other medication-assisted treatments.
"We're still in the middle of a raging and rising opioid epidemic in this country, and kids younger and younger are getting into it, and the fentanyl is just -- well, it's literally killing them," Dr. Paula Riggs, a professor and director of the Division of Addiction Science, Prevention and Treatment in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, told CNN.
"We need to get more kids into treatment."
