The AP (3/5, Tanner) reports researchers found that a growing number of minors in the US are being hospitalized because of opioid poisonings or overdoses, according to a study published in Pediatrics. The study found that such “hospitalizations were most common among kids aged 12-17 and those aged 1 to 5.”
CNBC (3/5, Lovelace) reports that the researchers found that “the number of pediatric opioid hospitalizations requiring intensive care nearly doubled to 1,504 patients between 2012 and 2015, from 797 patients between 2004 and 2007.”
HealthDay (3/5, Norton) reports that Dr. Sheryl Ryan, the chief of adolescent medicine at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, wrote in an accompanying commentary, “This epidemic is not limited to adults.” Ryan advised parents to store prescription opioids appropriately and to dispose of unused opioids, so they could not be accidentally ingested or abused by their children.
Additional coverage is provided by: NBC News (3/5, Fox), CNN (3/5, Lieber), TIME (3/5, MacMillan), Newsweek (3/5, Lee), and Medscape (3/5, Hackethal).
Related Links:
— “Opioid poisonings, overdoses send more US kids to hospitals,” LINDSEY TANNER, Associated Press, March 5, 2018.