A study released recently revealed that drug-overdose deaths in Pennsylvania increased 14-fold in the last 35 years, most notably with young white women, according to the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.
“Our latest analysis reveals that drug overdoses are the biggest problem facing our nation in terms of years of life lost–more than car crashes, or cancer, or HIV–and we as a society need to work together to solve it,” said Donald S. Burke, M.D., a co-author of the study.
According to officials, the study broke down overdose deaths from 1979 to 2014 by sex, age and race. The team started with 1979 because changes in reporting cause of death make it impossible to make comparisons with previous years.
Overdose deaths, according to the study, were concentrated around the counties of southwestern Pennsylvania, those surrounding Philadelphia and those in northeast Pennsylvania near Scranton.
While the 35- to 44-year-old age group had the greatest increase in rate of overdose deaths, growing almost 22-fold since 1979, the 25- to-34-year-olds seem to be overtaking them, with the highest overdose death rate in 2014. A study of heroin use among patients entering substance abuse treatment centers indicates a shift to predominantly white users over the last 50 years.
Accidental overdose rates are higher in men than in women; however, women saw a more dramatic increase, particularly from 2010 to 2014. High overdose death rates for women also spanned a longer age range of 25 to 54 for white women and 35 to 64 for black women, compared to the U.S. average peak between ages 45 to 54.
“This seems to indicate a more prolonged period of concern for overdoses in Pennsylvania women,” said lead author Lauren C. Balmert. “Previous research has shown that women are more prone to having accelerated progression from their first drug use to substance abuse and often enter into treatment programs with more severe dependence than men.”
Compounding matters, most women who enter substance abuse treatment programs also are responsible for children and tend to be more reliant on public insurance, factors that the researchers say could affect a woman’s decision to enter or remain in a drug rehabilitation program.
“While our analysis examined accidental poisoning deaths in Pennsylvania, many of these findings are applicable to other states as well,” said co-author Jeanine M. Buchanich, Ph.D.”Our county-level findings provide possible avenues for targeting interventions to areas and people with the highest drug overdose mortality. It also points to issues on the horizon that public health officials could prepare for– such as overdoses in younger age groups and rapid overdose increases in areas centered on smaller cities with fewer resources.”
While drug overdose deaths continue to rise throughout the state and country, Pennsylvania still ranks in the top 20 for states with the highest overdose mortality. Overdose mortality continues to be the leading cause of accidental death in the U.S.
