CHICAGO (AP) - Drug overdose deaths rose for the 11th straight year, federal data show, and most of them were accidents involving addictive painkillers despite growing attention to risks from these medicines.
"The big picture is that this is a big problem that has gotten much worse quickly," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which gathered and analyzed the data.
In 2010, the CDC reported, there were 38,329 drug overdose deaths nationwide. Medicines, mostly prescription drugs, were involved in nearly 60 percent of overdose deaths that year, overshadowing deaths from illicit narcotics.
The report appears in Tuesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.
It details which drugs were at play in most of the fatalities. As in previous recent years, opioid drugs – which include OxyContin and Vicodin – were the biggest problem, contributing to 3 out of 4 medication overdose deaths.
Utahns weigh in on country's prescription drug problem
HOLLADAY — Utah is no exception to the national rise in deaths caused by drug overdose.
In 2007, fatal overdoses peaked at 326 per year, but after an awareness campaign from 2007 to 2010, those numbers dropped. However, 2011 saw another jump in deaths related to opioids, like oxycodone, hydrocodone and methadone.
For many people, lack of awareness and education about their prescribed drugs leads to health problems, including overdose. Prescription drugs come with fine print and warnings that patients often neglect.
"Normally when I grab it, I'm not going to lie, I just throw the paper away and call it good," said Ismael Cruz, a customer at Meier Pharmacy in Holladay.
At the same time, doctors and pharmacists may not fully explain the dangers surrounding prescription medication.
"I think it's really easy to keep taking them," said Robyn Ensor, another pharmacy customer. "You just get in over your head. It just kind of snowballs."
In some cases, the prescription may be too much for the patient. That was the case with Diane Christopherson, who followed her prescribed pain medication regimen. She recently switched doctors. Her new doctor ran tests then reported high levels of prescription pain medications in her system.
"Well, I've been overdosing for three years now," she said. "I'm glad this doctor finally told me about it."
Many doctors and pharmacists in Utah said they are doing what they can to prevent overdoses, though it's challenging.
"Especially in the ER, as physicians, we're so busy that we may not take that time unless a patient just sits us down and says, 'Hey, what is this medication? What does it do? What do I have to watch out for?'" said Dr. Troy Madsen, a physician at the University of Utah Medical Center.
In pharmacies, technology allows customers with prescriptions for pain medications to be tracked to prevent them from taking advantage of the system.
"Every time we get a new patient who wants to fill a narcotic, we always check the prescription database to make sure," said Devin Meier from Meier Pharmacy. "I've sent a lot of people away."
Many pharmacies also have electronic databases to track patients' prescription medicines. The pharmacy can quickly check for potentially fatal interactions.
Frieden said many doctors and patients don't realize how addictive these drugs can be, and that they're too often prescribed for pain that can be managed with less risky drugs.
They're useful for cancer, "but if you've got terrible back pain or terrible migraines," using these addictive drugs can be dangerous, he said.
Medication-related deaths accounted for 22,134 of the drug overdose deaths in 2010.
Anti-anxiety drugs including Valium were among common causes of medication-related deaths, involved in almost 30 percent of them. Among the medication-related deaths, 17 percent were suicides.
The report's data came from death certificates, which aren't always clear on whether a death was a suicide or a tragic attempt at getting high. But it does seem like most serious painkiller overdoses were accidental, said Dr. Rich Zane, chair of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
The study's findings are no surprise, he added. "The results are consistent with what we experience" in ERs, he said, adding that the statistics no doubt have gotten worse since 2010.
Some experts believe these deaths will level off. "Right now, there's a general belief that because these are pharmaceutical drugs, they're safer than street drugs like heroin," said Don Des Jarlais, director of the chemical dependency institute at New York City's Beth Israel Medical Center.
"But at some point, people using these drugs are going to become more aware of the dangers," he said.
Frieden said the data show a need for more prescription drug monitoring programs at the state level, and more laws shutting down "pill mills" – doctor offices and pharmacies that over-prescribe addictive medicines.
Last month, a federal panel of drug safety specialists recommended that Vicodin and dozens of other medicines be subjected to the same restrictions as other narcotic drugs like oxycodone and morphine. Meanwhile, more and more hospitals have been establishing tougher restrictions on painkiller prescriptions and refills.
One example: The University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora is considering a rule that would ban emergency doctors from prescribing more medicine for patients who say they lost their pain meds, Zane said.
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