Posted on 03/23/2010 4:22:43 PM PDT by Utah Binger
SALT LAKE CITY -- Financial problems, a history of substance abuse and mental illness are factors strongly connected to prescription drug overdose deaths in Utah.
According to a study released Monday by the Utah Department of Health, the new figures could benefit doctors when screening patients to identify who is more at risk of suffering a fatal unintentional overdose.
"We found out there was a high proportion of people who were unemployed or had financial problems," said Dr. Robert Rolfs, director of the Utah Division of Disease Control and Prevention. "Lack of health insurance was one characteristic that we hadn't known before. It's also common to have some kind of history of substance abuse."
UDOH officials are trying to understand why prescription drug overdose deaths have jumped more than 500 percent over the last decade or so. Utah residents are now more likely to die from a drug overdose than in a traffic accident.
"Very little is known about why we are experiencing this epidemic of prescription drug deaths in Utah," said Dr. David Sundwall, director of the health department. "The ultimate goal is to prevent as many of these deaths as we can."
Officials concluded the study in February after examining Utah drug overdose deaths for ages 12 and older that occurred over one year starting in late October 2008. The study documented which drugs were used and factored in the victim's sex, religion, financial standing and histories regarding substance abuse and mental illness.
Researchers interviewed either a relative or friend with the most knowledge about the victim in 90 percent of the 432 documented Utah overdose cases. Of those cases, 278 involved at least one opioid, a legal painkiller, with 240 of those an opioid with no illicit drugs.
Of those 240, 83 percent said their loved ones suffered from chronic or ongoing pain. Oxycodone was the most frequently used non-illicit drug contributing to an overdose death, followed by methadone, hydrocodone and alprazolam. The 38 other cases involved an opioid with at least one illicit drug.
Rolfs said many cases are characterized either as a patient safety problem, in which a patient overdosed by taking the medicine wrong or was prescribed incorrectly, or they used the prescriptions recreationally and may have had an addiction. He said many who died from overdose fell into a category in the middle of the two.
"Maybe a person started out with pain and got hooked," he said. "What this tells me is, that middle group is a much bigger group than I would have thought."
The study reported that Weber County saw 83 overdose deaths during that time frame. Davis County had 43 and Box Elder reported an unspecified figure.
It appears that there are certain issues in this isolated culture that might account for these dire numbers. I only post this because we lost a precious nephew a couple of years ago to this epidemic. He was not a member of any religion but ran with pals in an age group 21-30. They are rebelling against certain things in the culture it seems and drugs are not noticed so much until they die.
Utah residents are now more likely to die from a drug overdose than in a traffic accident.
_____________________________________________
Good grief...
Utah problem ping
Drug addicts don’t have jobs and have financial problems?
Huh!
Who knew!
Wow. How very sad.
I’m not surprised. It is hard to keep up the pretense of being ‘perfect’ and ‘worthy’ all the time.
Is this sentence saying that lack of health care causes unemployment, financial problems and substance abuse?
Obama’s fault.
Restornu,
Is this what you’re trying to “restore” us to?
Another one of those works, that we are supposed to know you by?
This is way too funny. I've been here for years and have been an off and on participant on the religion boards, and I never made that connection on her name. Seriously.
My regrets...
BUT.
This is NOT AN EPIDEMIC.
You lost a nephew.
That's all.
My apologies to you and for your loss, but it's not an EPIDEMIC.
Don't be a fool.
I see this publication has a 5th grader writing for it. This sentence, for example, is just so horribly written:
Rolfs said many cases are characterized either as a patient safety problem, in which a patient overdosed by taking the medicine wrong or was prescribed incorrectly, or they used the prescriptions recreationally and may have had an addiction.
Really?
Q: How isolated are members of the 21-30 age group?
A: Not at all.
In like manner pal.
What do you mean?
Make it clear. Please.
Didn’t know it was an article requiring a grammar lesson.
Nitpicking survives on FR.
This is meaningless data without accompanying data on deaths from unintentional NON-prescription drug overdoses *including alcohol*. I suspect the latter are much lower in Utah, due the Mormon culture and its influence on availability of recreational drugs *especially alcohol* (and really, this should include “overdoses” of alcohol that cause people to get themselves into fatal vehicle accidents, fall off balconies to their deaths, etc). Let’s see a state-by-state comparison of deaths from unintentional overdoses of ALL drugs *including alcohol*, before announcing any negative conclusions about Utah or Mormon culture. It’s not any better for a young adult to die of alcohol poisoning than to die of an oxycodone overdose — dead is dead.
but the other question is WHY oxycodone being prescribed to people with bad backs or necks etc...which I have both...serious degenerative disc disease and herniated discs in my neck...they do no cure anything....they mask...anti-inflammatories and simple walking does more good....
Lordy, what is wrong with this wimpy generation.....and what is wrong with these docs?
Indeed.
You are very correct in what you say about young white men. I do not believe the Utah culture is much different from other places on the planet when it comes to this age group. They are in many ways lost.
Trouble is they have no clue about what they are faced with with this Obama culture. I am concerned about how my grandsons will deal with their future.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.