A new study indicates that the US opioid crisis is deepening.
A year ago, the U.S. was facing an epidemic – the scourge of opioid addiction, with more than 70,000 lives lost due to drug overdose in 2019, according to the National Drug Abuse Institute.
The topic was at the center of public health, academic and political debates.
But it was soon overshadowed by a new threat – the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a large cross-sectional study published in JAMA Psychiatry on February 3 that analyzed nearly 190 million visits to the emergency department (ED), the researchers found significantly higher rates of visits to EDs for opioid overdoses during the months of March to October compared to the same dates in 2019. The study found that, starting in mid-April, weekly rates of visits to the emergency room for drug overdose increased by up to 45% compared to the same period in 2019. .
General visits to the emergency room for opioid overdoses increased 28.8% year on year.
While some survived these overdoses, many others were not so lucky.
“The rise in overdose deaths is worrying,” said Deb Houry, MD, MPH, director of the National Center for Injury Prevention (CDC) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the rising rates of overdose deaths during the COVID pandemic. -19.
The CDC said in December that the rate of overdose deaths was accelerating during the pandemic, driven by synthetic opioids, which increased 38.4% during the year prior to June 2020.
Opioid overdoses do not exist in a vacuum; instead, any force that threatens mental health makes society more susceptible to the threat of addiction. For some, this might be the fear of contracting COVID-19. For others, the stress of losing a job. And still others, the boredom of being stuck in your home with nothing to do.
“The disruption of daily life due to the COVID-19 pandemic hit those with substance use disorder hard,” said former CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield in December.
This same study by JAMA Psychiatry found that visits to the emergency department for mental health problems, violence against intimate partners and child abuse and neglect increased over the same period of time as suicide attempts.
Although many lives have been saved with requests to stay at home, this savings has come at a cost. Although vaccines appear to have provided a light at the end of the COVID-19 tunnel, the United States will need to address its growing problem of social isolation and mental illness in the internet age, experts say.
“Social detachment has forced many 12-step programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, to suspend their meetings. The need for effective substance abuse treatment has never been greater,” said Linville M. Meadows, MD, doctor and author on addictions. .
Nicholas Nissen, MD, is a clinical member and medical resident in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a physician at ABC News Medical Unit.