A new study has done just that, however, by analyzing data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention between 2011 and 2015 on deaths related to opioid use and information acquired on rates of depression through phone surveys.
The researchers found that between 2011 and 2013, rates of opioid use remained stable but showed a significant increase over the following two years. The telephone surveyors interviewed 400,000 people across the U.S. and found that 19 percent reported being diagnosed with depression in 2015. This number has risen from 17.5 percent of respondents in 2011.
“For every additional one percent of the population that has a depression diagnosis, we see between a 25 and 35 percent increase in the number of opioid overdose deaths,” said Laura Schwab Reese, who led the study. “We thought maybe suicide was driving this, but we sectioned out unintentional overdose and found that the relationship continued.”
Prescription Drugs the Main Cause of Opioid Overdoses
What many people still do not know is that opioid abuse often begins with prescription medication given to patients after suffering a physical trauma or undergoing surgery to manage pain, but it’s also prescribed to patients suffering from depression. More than 65 percent of opioid-related overdoses are caused by the abuse of prescription drugs, meaning that it’s likely these medications are being overprescribed and patients are being undereducated about the risks associated with taking them.
“We know from prior literature that people who are depressed are more likely to be prescribed opioids, but also that people who are prescribed opioids are more likely to become depressed,” said Schwab Reese. “We need to recognize that this is probably a bidirectional relationship.”
The researchers believe that the seriousness of this crisis needs to be met with an equally serious response. Schwab Reese commented that she feels that responding on the individual level is no longer adequate and that steps should be taken to respond on the national level to reach as high a percentage of the American population as possible.
This will require both a level of national education on the opioid crisis and the very real risks of abusing prescription meds, as well as further research into the current guidelines surrounding the prescription of opioid medications for either pain management or depression.
Access to mental health care is also an issue that needs to be addressed to try and limit the effects of opioid medication on mental health. Statistics show that an estimated 50 percent of Americans with a mental health disorder lack access to proper health care services to treat their condition.
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