Hospitalizations for prescription drug poisoning increasing

Hospitalizations for overdoses of certain prescription drugs increased dramatically between 1999 and 2006, according to a new study.

Researchers used data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample to examine U.S. hospitalizations for intentional and unintentional poisoning by prescription opioids, sedatives and tranquilizers. The study looked at the incidence and characteristics of such hospitalizations and compared them with hospitalizations for other poisonings in the same time period. The study results were published online April 6 by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

All hospitalizations due to overdoses of prescription opioids, sedatives and tranquilizers increased by 65% from 1999 to 2006, the researchers found. Unintentional poisonings involving these drugs increased by 37%, and intentional poisonings increased by 130%. Hospitalizations for poisonings by other drugs and substances increased by 33% over the same period; unintentional poisonings increased by 21%, and intentional poisonings increased by 57%.

The increase in number of poisonings was greatest for benzodiazepines (a difference of 10,379 hospitalizations between 1999 and 2006), while hospitalization for methadone poisoning saw the largest percentage increase (400%). Patients hospitalized for overdoses of prescription opioids, sedatives and tranquilizers compared with other drugs were more likely to be women, to be older than age 34, to be covered by Medicare, and to be seen at a rural or urban nonteaching hospital. Men were more likely to be hospitalized with unintentional poisoning, while intentional poisoning was more common in women.

The authors noted that their study had a retrospective design and used only the principal discharge diagnosis to classify poisoning cases, among other limitations. However, they concluded that it provides important information about U.S. hospitalizations for poisoning by prescription opioids, sedatives and tranquilizers, showing substantial increases in both intentional and unintentional overdoses.

Patients who overdose are hospitalized for an average of three days, they noted, giving future researchers an opportunity to gather more information and to help aid prevention. “Interviews with survivors could provide important additional details regarding the pathways to abuse of these drugs, the methods used to obtain the medications, the sequencing and combination of drugs that result in overdose, and the immediate precursors to these serious events,” they wrote.