Study Indicates Us Tops Drug Overdose Cases

According to a new study, number of premature deaths due to drug overdoses is more than two times in the US than at least 12 nations with an estimated 63,632 people dying in 2016 from the drug overdose. The research was published on Monday in Annals of Internal Medicine. Yingxi Chen wrote that 20 out of 100,000 women and 35 out of 100,000 men died in 2015 from drug overdoses. Mexico had the lowest death rate with 1 death in 100,000 men and 0.2 in 100,000 women.

After Estonia, America has the highest rate of increase in drug overdose deaths with 4.3% deaths/year in men and 5.3% deaths/year in women. Apart from Mexico, Denmark and Spain also showed a decrease in mortality rates by drug overdose. People between 20 and 64 years of age, coming from 13 countries (USA, Spain, Norway, Netherlands, Mexico, Germany, Finland, Estonia, England and Wales combined, Denmark, Chile, Australia) was studied between 2001 and 2015, said Chen. Researcher Caleb Banta-Green said that the data gathered reinforces already-known facts about the US and puts them in sharp contrast against how other nations have dealt with the same problem.

Opioid deaths amount for huge mortalities in the US. The situation has been called ‘triple epidemic waves’ as late-1990s saw deaths from prescription opioids, with 2010 came heroin deaths and now deaths because of synthetic opioids including fentanyl are seen. Not included in the research was how France reduced national drug overdose mortality rates by 79% by using medication buprenorphine.

The FDA in America approves the use of buprenorphine alongside counseling and behavioral therapies to treat addicted patients. They also recommend to seek help from an online suboxone clinic to get the best and most effective treatment plan available. Banta-Green says that allowing greater access to treatment options and promoting understanding of drug overdose as treatable can reduce the number of deaths in the United States. He adds that the US should take note of the findings to reflect on how it is now taking the dramatic measures that it should in order to solve the drug overdose-related issues.