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posted by mrpg on Monday August 14 2017, @03:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the crisis dept.

Since 2009, hospital intensive care units have witnessed a stark increase in opioid-related admissions and deaths, according to new study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s (BIDMC) Center for Healthcare Delivery Science. Published online today ahead of print in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society, the study is believed to be the first to quantify the impact of opioid abuse on critical care resources in the United States. The findings reveal that opioid-related demand for acute care services has outstripped the available supply.

Analyzing data from the period between January 1, 2009 and September 31, 2015, the researchers documented a 34 percent increase in overdose-related ICU admissions. The average cost of care per ICU overdose admissions rose by 58 percent, from $58,517 in 2009 to $92,408 in 2015 (in 2015 dollars). Meanwhile opioid deaths in the ICU nearly doubled during that same period. "This study tells us that the opioid epidemic has made people sicker and killed more people, in spite of all the care we can provide in the ICU, including mechanical ventilation, acute dialysis, life support and round-the-clock care," said the study's lead author, Jennifer P. Stevens, MD, associate director of the medical intensive care unit at BIDMC and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

[...] These data not only document the scope of the opioid abuse epidemic, they also reveal its complexity. Stevens and colleagues suggest that any opioid overdose-related admission is a preventable one, and that the team's findings not only represent the need for increased acute care resources, but also for expanded opioid-abuse prevention and treatment.

The article is paywalled but there is an abstract: The Critical Care Crisis of Opioid Overdoses in the United States

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  • (Score: 2) by deimtee on Monday August 14 2017, @06:20PM (1 child)

    by deimtee (3272) on Monday August 14 2017, @06:20PM (#553788) Journal

    Part of that is that most pain pills work much better if you can take them before the pain starts.
    So doctors prescribe pills at a rate of "take one just before the previous one wears off" and give you enough for the expected duration of the pain. For chronic pain this is a great way to get addicted.

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  • (Score: 2) by meustrus on Monday August 14 2017, @06:53PM

    by meustrus (4961) on Monday August 14 2017, @06:53PM (#553800)

    The fundamental problem is that if you take the pills in anticipation of pain, rather than in response to pain, you have no way of telling if you are still in pain. Responsible use of pain killers involves easing off every once in a while to re-evaluate whether you need as much as you are taking.

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