By Robert Preidt
HealthDay reporter
FRIDAY, July 30, 2021 (HealthDay News) – Visits to U.S. emergency rooms for an opioid overdose rose nearly a third during the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
That’s the key finding of a new analysis of data from 25 emergency rooms in Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, North Carolina, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
“COVID-19 and the disruptions in every part of our social and work lives made this situation even more difficult by increasing the risk of opioid abuse and relapse because people were disconnected from their social support and normal routines,” the senior executive said Study author Molly Jeffery, a researcher at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.
The study found that emergency room visits related to an opioid overdose increased by 28.5% over the past year compared to 2018 and 2019. The raw numbers in the study were 3,486 in 2020; 3,285 in 2019; and 3,020 in 2018.
Researchers linked opioid overdoses to one in 313 emergency rooms in the past year, compared to one in 400 in the previous two years.
While emergency room visits related to opioid overdose increased 10.5% over the past year, overall emergency room visits decreased 14%, according to results published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine and recently at the AcademyHealth’s annual research meeting were presented.
Preliminary data recently released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows more than 93,000 deaths from opioid overdoses in 2020 – a 29.4% increase from 2019 and the highest ever in the United States States recorded over a 12 month period.
“While institutions in the US are very aware that opioid abuse is a major health concern, it shows that more needs to be done, and it provides an opportunity for institutions and policy makers to expand evidence-based treatments and resources,” said Jeffrey in a clinic press release.
According to the CDC, more than 70% of drug overdose deaths in 2019 were opioids, but trends flattened before the coronavirus pandemic. However, the data shows a clear trend reversal since the beginning of the pandemic.
Actual opioid overdose rates may be higher than the study suggests, as the number of people who take an overdose but don’t go to the emergency room is likely to increase, the researchers found.
In response to the surge, Jeffrey said that opioid addiction treatments like buprenorphine and methadone, as well as the opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone, need to be more accessible.
She also noted that access to telemedicine for psychiatric care increased and remained high during the pandemic.
“We believe this could be an important way to improve the availability of care for many people with opioid abuse disorder or addiction,” Jeffery said.
More information
The US National Institute on Drug Abuse did more on the opioid crisis.
SOURCE: Mayo Clinic, press release, July 28, 2021
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