Health & Fitness - Methadone prominent in painkiller deaths

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Methadone prominent in painkiller deaths

ATLANTA (UPI) -- Methadone is prominent in prescription opioid deaths and Medicaid enrollees may be a high-risk group, U.S. health officials said.

From 1999-2006, the number of U.S. poisoning deaths nearly doubled, largely as a result of deaths involving prescription opioid painkillers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report released Thursday said.

"These increases in drug overdose rates paralleled a nearly four-fold increase in the use of prescription opioids during this period nationally," the report said. "In 2006, the rate of poisoning involving opioid painkillers in Washington was significantly higher than the national rate."

In Washington from 2004-07, 1,668 people died of prescription opioid-related overdoses and of those, 58.9 percent were male, 34.4 percent were 45-54 years of age and 45.4 percent were Medicaid-enrolled, the report said.

The Medicaid-enrolled population had an almost six-fold increased risk of prescription opioid-related overdose death. Methadone was involved in almost two-thirds of these deaths.

Methadone is a synthetic opioid, used medically as a painkiller, cough suppressant and as a substitute for illicit opiate drugs.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

This news arrived on: 11/01/2009

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