Abuse of Prescription Painkillers on the rise

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report on June 18 saying that the number of emergency room visits due to nonmedical use of opioid  analgesics increased 111 percent, from 144,600 in 2004 to 305,900 in 2008.

The most commonly used prescription pain killers were oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone all of which showed a signficant increase during the five-year period.

Oxycodone is a synthesized opioid analgesic drug which can help diabetic neuropathy, postherpetic neuralgia, osteoarthritis, ambulatory laparoscopic tubal ligation surgery, unilateral total knee arthroplasty, and abdominal/gynaecological surgery.

Hydrocodone can be used to treat moderate to severe pain and is also used as an antitussive to treat cough in formulations such as Codiclear and Tussionex.

The number of emergency room visits involving non-medical use of benzodiazepines increased 89 percent during the period from 143,500 in 2004 to 271,700 visits in 2008 and 24 percent during 2007 to 2008.

Benzodiazepines, a class of psychoactive drugs, possess sedative, hypnotic, anxiolytic, anticonvulsant, muscle relaxant and amnesic actions. Because of this, these drugs can be used to treat alcohol dependence, seizures, anxiety, manic, agitation and insomnia among other things.

Women were more likely to visit ER due to misuse and abuse of benzodiazepines than men, but the difference was not significant, the CDC report says.  

The use of the prescription pain killers varied with age and the number of ER visits in 2008 was found among those aged 21 to 24 years and the largest increases occurred among those aged 21 to 29 years.

The study results from a review by The CDC and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), was based on the most recent 5 years of available data (2004--2008) on ED visits involving the nonmedical use of prescription drugs from SAMHSA's Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN).

Opioid analgesics are generally safe when used correctly. But they do cause a range of adverse effects when not used adequately. These common effects include nausea, vomiting, drowsiness, itching, constipation, and respiratory depression among others.

These prescription pain pills can be dangerous when they are overdosed or used for a long term.

DL