Teen drug overdose rate in US rose 20% in 2015 after years of decline
The number of American teens to die of a drug overdose leapt by almost a fifth in 2015 after seven years of decline, a study by the National Center for HealthStatistics has found. The jump in fatalities was driven by heroin and synthetic opioid use and by an increasing number of deaths among teenage girls.
Deaths among teenagers represent a tiny portion of drug overdose deaths nationally – less than 2%.
The report comes just as the Trump administration struggles to craft a plan to fight an opioid epidemic that claimed more than 52,000 lives in 2015.
“We wanted to document that in this age group there had been a decline [in deaths],” said Sally Curtin, lead author of the study. “The trends were unique for this age group. But, once again, it did increase again between 2014 and 2015.”
The report looked at the rate of overdose deaths for teens aged 15-19 between 1999 and 2015. Researchers found the rate of teens who died from a drug overdose dropped 26% between 2007 and 2014. Among boys, the death rate fell even more – by one-third.
For more:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/aug/16/drugs-opioid-overdose-teenagers-america-trump
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