Opioid Overdose Amid Kids Nearly Doubles

As if opioid addictions in adults wasn't sad enough, a new study shares a discouraging story of the number of children being admitted to hospitals due to opioid overdoses.

A recent study, published in the journal Pediatrics, states that the number of kiddos admitted to hospitals for opioid overdose has nearly doubled since 2004.

Researchers studied kids between the ages of 1 and 17 who were admitted to pediatric intensive care units, and hospitals, with opioid-related diagnoses from 2004 to 2015.

Those numbers nearly doubled to 1,504 patients between 2012 and 2015, to 797 patients between 2004 and 2007, according to the report.

What is some the cause of opioid addictions in children?

The researchers noted that many of these kids likely overdosed after finding their parents prescription medications.

Dr. Jason Kane, an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Critical Care at Comer Children's Hospital in Chicago, and lead author of the study said,

"When they come in, they're going to fall into one of two categories: either they're teenagers with intentional or drug-seeking behavior because of recreational of self-injurious behavior, or they're kids who got into their parents' medication."

Dr. Kane added,

"The thing that was a bit striking is that in the youngest children, those under six years of age, 20-percent of the ingestions were of methadone. So, you sort of have to ask yourself: where are they getting all this methadone from?"

It should also be noted that Methadone is prescribed for the treatment of opioid withdrawal symptoms and as a painkiller.

A sad story came out of the Bronx, New York, that two toddlers were hospitalized after ingesting opioids after a dad had accidentally spilled them on the bed where the two small children were.

Folks in Maine, who have been described these drugs, need to ensure that they are out of the reach and out of range of their children, lest they become the next victims.