Poisoning – particularly from overdoses
of over-the-counter, prescription and illicit drugs – has surpassed falls to
become the nation’s second-leading cause of unintentional death, after motor
vehicle collisions. With an 80 percent increase from 2001 to 2006, poisoning is
the fastest-rising cause of accidental death in the United States. In North
Dakota, unintentional poisonings are the third leading cause of death.
While most people think of poisoning as a childhood issue, adults are
overwhelmingly the source of the steep recent increase in unintentional
poisoning deaths.
Between 1993 and 2003, there was a 107
percent increase in the unintentional poisoning death rate from overdoses among
Americans ages 20 to 64. In Washington state and the District of Columbia,
overdoses have surpassed motor vehicle crashes to become the leading cause of
unintentional death.
Drug-related poisonings are often due to
overdose or misuse of opioid analgesics, such as oxycodone, methadone,
hydrocodone, fentanyl and buprenorphine initially prescribed to treat chronic
pain. While the greatest number of these deaths is occurring among white men
ages 45 to 54 – up nearly 6,000 in a decade – poisoning death rates are
increasing fastest among white women – up more than 300 percent.
A
survey conducted in fall
2007 by the National Safety Council revealed that most Americans (81 percent)
still believe that children are at greatest risk for poisoning. Less than 4
percent said adults, though data shows that less than one percent of fatal
poisoning deaths in 2004 affected children (ages 0-5) and more than 96 percent
involved adults (19 years and older).
The need for public education is clear. When
asked to rank potential causes of poisoning in the council’s fall 2007 survey,
53 percent of people surveyed said household chemicals were most commonly
associated with fatal poisoning while just 34 percent named drugs and medicine.
While children rarely die today from unintentional poisoning,
non-fatal poisonings remain a childhood concern.
About 50,000 children under the age of 4 are injured by
unintentional poisonings every year.
This is testament to the success of national
awareness efforts, such as poison prevention campaigns and child-resistant
packaging.
* Information courtesy of the
National Safety Council, Copyright 1995-2010