Opioid Poisoning In Children Below 5 Years Old Still Persists

The United States poison control centers are receiving over 30 calls each day for child opioid intoxication. The case involved a majority of children, who are younger than the age of five.

According to Medical Xpress, the latest study focused on the records of calls from people seeking help for the victims of opioid poisoning. It has been discovered that between 2000 and 2015, there was an average of 12,000 reported calls each year. That accounts for an almost 32 cases per day.

The drug poisoning commonly involved children under 5-year-old who received the support of an adult's opioids, which may either prescribed legally or not. Furthermore, 30 percent of patients were teenagers who took the drug intentionally, researchers said.

"Greater efforts are needed to prevent opioid exposure to children of all ages," Dr. Gary Smith of Nationwide Children's Hospital and colleagues stated in a report. The study was published in Pediatrics on March 20.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claim opioid overdose records increased in the United States. As a result, authorities are on the works of controlling widespread abuse of the drugs.

In 2014, CDC reported that there were over 2 million American citizens, who abuse opioid’s prescription. The agency described the death of more than 15,000 people in 2015 as epidemic due to an overdose of this drug.

The drugs include oxycodone (OxyContin) and oxycodone plus acetaminophen (Percocet). The United States doctors began prescribing the medications since the 1990s. The CDC data displayed that opioid prescription became quadrupled since 1999.

The most life-threatening opioid overdoses can be prevented through packing the pills separately. In this case, kids will not accidentally take more than the prescribed amount NBC News reported.

Opioid being a pain reliever has unexpected side effects such as an increase painkiller demand of users. Another is a diversion, which means that people use the drugs progressively even if it's not their proper medical need.