• About
  • Masthead
  • License Content
  • Advertise
  • Submit Press Release
  • RSS/Email List
  • Write for us
  • Contact us
2 Minute Medicine
No Result
View All Result

No products in the cart.

SUBSCRIBE
  • Specialties
    • Cardiology
    • Chronic Disease
    • Dermatology
    • Emergency
    • Endocrinology
    • Gastroenterology
    • Imaging and Intervention
    • Infectious Disease
    • Nephrology
    • Neurology
    • Obstetrics
    • Oncology
    • Ophthalmology
    • Pediatrics
    • Preclinical
    • Psychiatry
    • Public Health
    • Pulmonology
    • Rheumatology
    • Surgery
  • The Scan
  • Wellness
  • Classics™
    • 2MM+ Online Access
    • Paperback and Ebook
  • Rewinds
  • Visual
  • Partners
    • License Content
    • Submit Press Release
    • Advertise with Us
  • AccountLog-in/out
    • Subscribe
    • Sign-in
    • My account
2 Minute Medicine
  • Specialties
    • Cardiology
    • Chronic Disease
    • Dermatology
    • Emergency
    • Endocrinology
    • Gastroenterology
    • Imaging and Intervention
    • Infectious Disease
    • Nephrology
    • Neurology
    • Obstetrics
    • Oncology
    • Ophthalmology
    • Pediatrics
    • Preclinical
    • Psychiatry
    • Public Health
    • Pulmonology
    • Rheumatology
    • Surgery
  • The Scan
  • Wellness
  • Classics™
    • 2MM+ Online Access
    • Paperback and Ebook
  • Rewinds
  • Visual
  • Partners
    • License Content
    • Submit Press Release
    • Advertise with Us
  • AccountLog-in/out
    • Subscribe
    • Sign-in
    • My account
SUBSCRIBE
2 Minute Medicine
Subscribe
Home All Specialties Emergency

Children with mothers prescribed opioids more likely to overdose

byKate AndersonandCordelia Ross
February 27, 2017
in Emergency, Pediatrics
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

1. Children aged ≤10 years who had overdosed on opioids were more than 2 times more likely to have a mother with opioid prescriptions than one with prescriptions for non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). 

2. Codeine, methadone, and oxycodone were the top 3 maternal opioid prescriptions implicated in pediatric opioid toxicity.

Evidence Rating: 3 (Average) 

Study Rundown: Legal prescription opioid use for chronic pain in North America has increased significantly over the past two decades. Previous work has demonstrated that increasing rates of adult drug use, prescription medications in particular, are related to increasing rates of unintentional poisonings in young children. The specific implications of parental prescription opioid use on children in the home remains unclear. In this study, researchers sought to better characterize the link between maternal prescription opioid use and pediatric opioid overdose in Ontario, Canada. Rates of opioid overdose in children whose mothers had prescriptions for opioids (cases) were compared to rates of opioid toxicity in those whose mothers had NSAID prescriptions (controls). Results indicated that children whose mothers had been prescribed opioids in the past year had greater than two fold increased risk of overdose than children whose mothers were taking NSAIDs. Codeine, methadone and oxycodone were the 3 prescription opioids most frequently responsible for overdose. One limitation of this study is the lack of data on prescription use for fathers or others living in the household, a potentially important source of exposure. Furthermore, the population studied only included those covered by the provincial drug plan, and did not include information on opioid overdose in children of families that do not received subsidized medications. These findings have implications for the role physicians and pharmacists play in educating parents on proper storage and handling of potentially toxic medications.

Click to read the study, published today in Pediatrics

Relevant reading: Leftover Prescription Opioids After Minor Procedures: An Unwitting Source for Accidental Overdose in Children

Study Author, Dr. Yaron Finkelstein, MD, FACMT, talks to 2 Minute Medicine: Professor of Pediatrics, Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Toronto, Staff physician, Senior Associate Scientist, Hospital for Sick Children, Adjunct Scientist, Institute of Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto

RELATED REPORTS

Recommendations for opioid use in the management of chronic pain

Exercise may be as effective as pharmacotherapy in managing osteoarthritis pain

Reinfection with hepatitis C virus is highest immediately after treatment in patients on opioid agonist therapy

“The CDC has recently defined prescription opioids misuse as the worst drug epidemic in history, based on ~250,000 deaths over the past two decades and roughly 7,000 emergency department daily visits in the United States. With the increase in opioid prescribing and availability in North American homes, it is critical to understand how this may impact children, and specifically determine the potential downstream effect of parental opioids prescribing on their children.”

In-depth [retrospective case-control study]: In this study, cases were defined as children who 1) presented to the hospital for or died in the prehospital setting from opioid overdose, 2) had mothers that received either opioids or NSAIDs in the previous year, and 3) were aged ≤10 years. Each case was randomly matched with 4 controls with similar age (within 6 months) and sex that did not experience opioid overdose. Researchers utilized various national healthcare-related reporting registries to identify the 103 cases, which were matched with 412 controls using the Ontario Public Drug Benefit Database. This database includes information on prescriptions for residents who receive subsidized medications under Ontario’s provincial drug plan. NSAIDs were chosen as the reference exposure due to similarities in prescription indications (ie analgesia for chronic pain). Children >10 years were excluded to avoid inclusion of overdoses related to intentional misuse of opioid drugs. General characteristics, including age, income quintiles, additional prescription drug use, and co-morbid psychiatric disorders, of cases and controls were compared. Results indicated that maternal opioid prescription (particularly codeine, oxycodone and methadone) in the previous year increased the risk of pediatric opioid overdose more than two-fold, compared to mothers with NSAID prescriptions (OR, 2.41; 95% CI, 1.68-3.45). The average age of child opioid overdose was 2 years, with 1 in 10 opioid overdoses occurring in infants <12 months, suggesting some of the overdoses may have been related to caregiver neglect or malice, rather than unintentional medication ingestion. Mothers of the children in the case cohort were also found to have higher rates of concurrent antidepressant prescriptions, though there were no statistically significant differences in comorbid psychiatric disorders or other prescription drug use between mothers in the 2 groups.

Image: CC

©2015 2 Minute Medicine, Inc. All rights reserved. No works may be reproduced without expressed written consent from 2 Minute Medicine, Inc. Inquire about licensing here. No article should be construed as medical advice and is not intended as such by the authors or by 2 Minute Medicine, Inc.

Tags: ingestionnonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)opioidsoverdose
Previous Post

AAP supports public health interventions for opioid-dependent pregnant women

Next Post

Maintenance program associated with reduced weight regain after weight loss

RelatedReports

Patients with low back pain or pain at multiple sites at highest risk for chronic opioid use
Chronic Disease

Recommendations for opioid use in the management of chronic pain

February 22, 2023
Wide-ranging health benefits from outdoor adult walking groups
Chronic Disease

Exercise may be as effective as pharmacotherapy in managing osteoarthritis pain

February 6, 2023
Patients with low back pain or pain at multiple sites at highest risk for chronic opioid use
Chronic Disease

Reinfection with hepatitis C virus is highest immediately after treatment in patients on opioid agonist therapy

August 25, 2022
Patients with low back pain or pain at multiple sites at highest risk for chronic opioid use
Chronic Disease

Co-use of methamphetamine and opioids associated with higher rates of nonfatal overdoses compared to independent use

August 20, 2022
Next Post
Reduced gestational weight gain with lifestyle intervention

Maintenance program associated with reduced weight regain after weight loss

Natural language processing may automate data extraction from radiologic reports

The Internet may be an effective tool for treating chronic knee pain

Vitamin D supplementation amongst post-menopausal women did not improve functional outcomes

Testosterone administration may increase bone mineral density in older men with low testosterone

License Our Award-Winning Physician-Written Medical News and Visual Abstracts

2 Minute Medicine is the leading authoritative medical news licensing service, and the only with reports written by practicing doctors.

LICENSE CONTENT

2MM+ Premium Access

No ads & unlimited access to all current reports, over 9000 searchable archived reports, visual abstracts, Weekly Rewinds, and the online edition of The Classics Series™ textbook.

Subscription Options
2 Minute Medicine

2 Minute Medicine® is an award winning, physician-run, expert medical media company. Our content is curated, written and edited by practicing health professionals who have clinical and scientific expertise in their field of reporting. Our editorial management team is comprised of highly-trained MD physicians. Join numerous brands, companies, and hospitals who trust our licensed content.

Recent Reports

  • Transcarotid artery revascularization not associated with a significant difference in 30-day risk of stroke, death and myocardial infarction compared to carotid endarterectomy
  • Drinking characteristics in adolescence predict alcohol behaviors in early adulthood
  • Sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors may decrease risk of in-stent thrombosis
License Content
Terms of Use | Disclaimer
Cookie Policy
Privacy Statement (EU)
Disclaimer

© 2021 2 Minute Medicine, Inc. - Physician-written medical news.

  • Specialties
    • Cardiology
    • Chronic Disease
    • Dermatology
    • Emergency
    • Endocrinology
    • Gastroenterology
    • Imaging and Intervention
    • Infectious Disease
    • Nephrology
    • Neurology
    • Obstetrics
    • Oncology
    • Ophthalmology
    • Pediatrics
    • Preclinical
    • Psychiatry
    • Public Health
    • Pulmonology
    • Rheumatology
    • Surgery
  • The Scan
  • Wellness
  • Classics™
    • 2MM+ Online Access
    • Paperback and Ebook
  • Rewinds
  • Visual
  • Partners
    • License Content
    • Submit Press Release
    • Advertise with Us
  • Account
    • Subscribe
    • Sign-in
    • My account

© 2021 2 Minute Medicine, Inc. - Physician-written medical news.

Want more physician-written
medical news?

Join over 10 million yearly readers and numerous companies. For healthcare professionals
and the public.

Subscribe for free today!

Subscription options