Prescription Painkiller-Related Deaths On The Rise

The number of deaths from prescription painkillers -- opioids, such as OxyContin, Vicodin and hydrocodone -- in the United States has now surpassed that of skin cancer, alcoholic liver disease and HIV, according to a new study published online in the British Medical Journal.

The deaths may be linked with an increase in doctors prescribing the drugs to patients with chronic pain -- like osteoarthritis -- and not just cancer patients, according to the University of Toronto researchers.

Between 1999 and 2007, the number of deaths associated with opioid analgesics increased from 4,041 to 14,459, the researchers also reported.

The new finding is hardly the first to look at the increase in prescription painkiller-related deaths. Another study, published this year in the Journal of the American Medical Association, also acknowledged the increase, and pointed out that overdose deaths were most common among patients prescribed high doses of opioids.

In addition, the Associated Press reported just this week that hydrocodone abuse is on the rise, with police seizures of the pills increasing from 13,659 in 2001 to 44,815 in 2010.

Online pharmacies may be helping to fuel the trend, providing easier access to people looking to abuse the drugs, Reuters reported. Many of these online pharmacies aren't located in the United States, and don't require a doctor's prescription.

Curbing abuse -- and thereby deaths -- from painkillers is a complex problem, and researchers said a possible strategy is to eliminate commissions for drug companies for marketing the drugs. Another strategy is for pharmacies and doctor offices to implement electronic databases to track how many times a person retrieves an opioid prescription, they said.

In a 2007 perspective in the Journal of the American Medical Association, doctors also suggested having greater surveillance -- including urine testing and tamper-proof prescription notepads -- of patients prescribed with opioids. Pharmaceutical companies could also help by formulating their drugs to make them more abuse-resistant, doctors said.

For more information on where to go for help on battling a painkiller addiction, visit HelpGuide.org's guide to addiction treatment or the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA) site to find a treatment facility.

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Comments

[Guitarsandmore]

07:10 PM on 08/28/2011

Problems with the back, for example, are difficult to cure and often one surgery will fix a problem but create another one that is just as painful or worse. I get it why some people actually need pain pills.

[Raven1970]

01:42 PM on 08/27/2011

I feel very bad for those who truly suffer from chronic pain, but chronic pain with no diagnosis is even more of an issue...pain is a signal that there is something very wrong, especially chronic and simply doing "pain management" is a death sentence, aside from the risk of addiction, these pills do serious damage to your organs, and once they become a part of your life, they will be a part of your life forever. Pain medication should be hard to get, but it's not. The majority of the people I know get these pills from their doctors and they do not have any chronic conditions. Percocet is a very popular recreational drug amongst those in their 30-40s and "Roxys" as the kids call them...is oxycotin that they crush and snort and they are rampid in schools. This increase in deaths is only going to continue to sky rocket unless we do something now.

[Dee Amschler]

05:22 PM on 08/27/2011

Untreated pain is a death sentence. I'm guessing you don't know anyone who really has pain that's not getting treated. Consider yourself and your friends lucky in this regard. I'm quite sorry you know people who abuse medications, but many people NEED these medications and use them correctly - without getting "high" or addicted.

I've known people who committed suicide due to pain. I've considered suicide due to pain. It is HORRIBLE to spend days, months, years with pain that never stops - at best it sometimes is better and other times worse. I honestly quit counting how many months I spent thinking about how if I were my dog, no one would have any issues with giving me pain medications or with putting me out of my misery. Why are we so afraid of treating pain in people? We do we not realize how cruel it is to leave pain untreated in people?

[Dee Amschler]

04:29 AM on 08/26/2011

I am NOT willing to have the government do any more meddling in between me and my doctor that further put into jeopardy my ability to get adequate, timely treatment of my chronic pain without having to give up what little dignity I have left by being treated with the PRESUMPTION that I'm an addict, criminal and/or dealer rather than a real patient with real pain who's actually using their medications. I have already spent FIVE YEARS seeking treatment for my back pain. FIVE. Finally, after a full FIVE YEARS they've come to realize that I have a mix of scoliosis, bad discs, at least two kinds of arthritis, sacroilitis and then I have bursitis and arthritis in my hips which makes me walk "oddly" and causes still more back trouble. "Too young" or not, this isn't going away. A doctor is finally giving me the "opiate-like" tramadol and a whole lot of muscle relaxants.

If more layers of trouble are put into place to make it harder to treat pain patients or to prescribe these sorts of medication, it will only mean that people like me will endure still more time - and pain - waiting and searching for a doctor willing to actually DO something.

If you want to have a fair conversation about deaths and pain, how about the other half of the conversation? How about talking about the many deaths that result from untreated and inadequately treated chronic pain?

[Raven1970]

02:11 PM on 08/27/2011

It sounds like your persistance led to finally getting a diagnosis, which is better than if they just gave you pain medication. Now not only are they helping you with pain management, they can also treat you for your arthritis with anti-inflammatories, physical therapy and maybe even steroids if needed. Pain medication only addresses a symptom, it does not address the disease.

[Dee Amschler]

05:16 PM on 08/27/2011

You're half right. The doctors "had" to figure out all that BEFORE they would prescribe anything stronger than telling me to buy OTC NSAID medications. I have gastritis from taking so bleeping many NSAID medications, taking more of them or switching to prescription versions (which one or maybe two doctors offered) wasn't an option. Being in pain for so many years until they knew WHY the pain was there, shouldn't be how it's done. Treat the pain WHILE you diagnose it.

For example, it shouldn't have been hard to figure out my spine. My personal and family history should have made it relatively simple or at least less complex than "Medical Mysteries" and episodes of "House M.D.". There's no reason on the face of this earth it should have taken five years to figure this out. None. Other than docs kept trying to tell me people "this young" don't get back pain like I have it (um. sorry doc but *I* DO - which means that it certainly CAN happen even if it's not "standard").

I agree that shoving a person out the door with only pain meds would be a disservice, but shoving people out the door with NOTHING for pain is ALSO a disservice - and rather cruel and inhumane to boot.

[Missy Penick]

08:10 PM on 08/25/2011

I dislike these type stories! For those of us suffering chronic pain issues it's difficult enough to receive adequate treatment to control our pain. These kind of articles make it even more difficult. I watch myself closely and keep my meds in a pill minder also my doc was very clear on the difference between addiction and habituation when I voiced my concern over becoming addicted! I barely receive enough meds & not nearly enough to abuse them. I need them to control my pain which they only make tolerable as it is!

[Raven1970]

01:50 PM on 08/27/2011

If you have a diagnosis that requires pain medication it should not be difficult to receive it, that is very true. Chronic pain is not a diagnosis, it is a symptom, Doctors need to continue running tests to find out why you have chronic pain and once diagnosed you really should not be given a hard time to get medications that you need, I totally agree.

[Dee Amschler]

05:18 PM on 08/27/2011

Wrong. Chronic pain is KNOWN to be a problem that can persist long past when the injury(ies) are healed. Doctors however, especially with the pressure from insurance companies and the meddling of the DEA are loathe to prescribe anything much stronger than ibuprofen or hoping that alternative treatments like using antidepressants to "prevent pain" works.

[Missy Penick]

08:31 PM on 08/29/2011

I have a diagnosis, several in fact. Fibromyalgia & Chronic Myofascial Pain are the top two problems. Unfortunately some doctors still believe Fibro is all in people's heads dispute studies beginning to prove real changes in the brain and other confirmation that it is a real physical condition. The medical term is even in contention with it being called a syndrome at present. Many people with this horrible condition are treated with scorn and disbelief just because they look fine, that is a real issue with many immune deficiency "syndromes".

[froidytoidy]

12:30 PM on 08/25/2011

Here is an idea: How about making drugs with Hydrocodone, such as Vicodin, Norcoc, a schedule II.

[Sharon Hanson]

11:09 AM on 08/25/2011

I really have a hard time believing these statistics. It sounds like big pharma is about to release a block buster pain killer like Vioxx. You remember the one that kills and causes heart attacks.

[onionboy]

10:50 AM on 08/25/2011

Tracking, tracking, tracking; physicians, pharmacies, and manufacturers. I'm sure the vast majority of physicians and pharmacies are legit, but the bad ones can do huge amounts of damage if no one's looking.