About 42% of U.S. adults know someone who died from an overdose, new study finds

CNN
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emergency doctor Dr. Gail Donofrio has seen that grief and heartache firsthand, she said. Every time, I am asked the same question with tears in my eyes. “What else could I have done?”

A mother who has lost a child to a drug overdose may ask, “Why didn't I notice the signs?” Or maybe her friend wonders, “Couldn't I have intervened in some way?”

Nearly half of U.S. adults (about 42%) say they personally know at least one person who died from a drug overdose, according to a survey released Wednesday by the nonprofit research organization RAND Corporation. ing.

According to the report, Among adults who reported knowing someone who died from an overdose, the average number of lives lost among those they knew was two. This shows the “far-reaching impact” of the country's overdose crisis.

Just a few weeks ago, a person in Connecticut who had been using cocaine laced with fentanyl died of an overdose, and his loved ones were affected, said D'Onofrio, M.D., professor at Yale School of Medicine. . Addiction specialist at Yale New Haven Hospital. She was not involved in Randland's new report.

“There have been too many accidental overdose deaths lately. People were using another drug like cocaine laced with fentanyl. Or they took a pill from someone thinking it was oxycodone. And yet, it turns out it was fentanyl,” D'Onofrio said. Fentanyl is powerful synthetic opioid It can be deadly even in small amounts.it is about 100 times more potent than morphine It is 50 times more powerful than heroin as a painkiller.

“We have seen a rapid increase in the number of deaths,” D'Onofrio said. “And I think the people who are left behind are always questioning themselves and thinking, 'What could I have done to prevent this or intervene in some other way?' It’s really difficult.”

The RAND report states that losing someone to an overdose can be associated with the development of long-term grief, substance use disorders, and even suicidal thoughts.

“This highlights what many of us experience on a daily basis in the emergency department, which is that one tragedy can often lead to many others,” D'Onofrio said. Stated. She praised new Randland research that revealed what adults experience when they lose someone to an overdose.

“It's really a ripple effect,” she says. “And even though many of us experience this as emergency physicians, we don't think about this much.”

Alison Asay, lead author of the RAND report, said the new findings reflect how every person who dies from an overdose leaves behind people to grieve.

“I wasn't surprised at all because of the breadth of the overdose crisis and what we know about other types of traumatic deaths,” said Randland Associate Behavioral Social Scientist and Clinical said Asay, a licensed psychologist.

RAND University's Athy and colleagues surveyed more than 2,000 adults in February and March 2023 to find out how many people they knew personally over their lifetime had died from an overdose. Approximately 58% of survey respondents answered zero, 19% answered one, and a further 19% answered about two to five. About 4% said at least six people.

Kelly Nolte, a nurse practitioner who was not involved in the RAND study, said she believes at least six people she personally knows have died from overdoses.

“Things have changed and the grief from these losses continues to affect me, but it motivates me to continue my work supporting drug users and people experiencing trauma. '' said Nolte, an associate professor at the University of New Hampshire School of Nursing. said in an email.

In rural New England, Nolte and his collaborators interviewed people who had witnessed overdoses. During the survey, one person said, “I've been to my friend's funeral more often than I've been to my friend's wedding.''that became the title one of their research papers.

“I have heard countless traumatic stories of loss, grief, and trauma related to overdoses,” Nolte said, adding that he wants people to have access to naloxone, known by the brand name Narcan. He added that donating could help save lives. This is a drug that can quickly reverse an opioid overdose.

“It is critical that we provide basic training in overdose response to those most likely to witness a naloxone overdose,” she said. “However, with the current drug supply, which is so variable in additives and potency, we are concerned that more people will continue to lose loved ones to overdose and suffer the trauma associated with that loss. It is critical that we recognize the impact on our communities and continue to promote strategies to reduce overdoses.”

Only about 10% of adults in the RAND study who lost someone to an overdose said the death had little impact on their lives. The remaining adults said the death affected them in some way.

The study also found that women are more exposed to overdose deaths than men, married people more than single adults, U.S.-born people more than immigrants, and people living in urban areas than rural areas.

Exposure rates also vary by region, according to the study, with people in New England states and the Southeast Central region of the country, including Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee, having more people who know someone who has died from an overdose. Ate and others said, There are regional differences, likely because those regions have been hit hardest by the opioid epidemic.

“These are some of the areas that have the highest number of overdose deaths. So I think the increased number of deaths in these areas results in more bereavement,” she said.

Also, “New England has a more urban environment, and areas with higher population density may have more of these types of fatalities. But that's speculation,” she said. “We really know very little about this experience of overdose loss and how it impacts individuals and communities.”

Family members and loved ones of people with substance use disorders often don't even know about the person's current drug use, said Dr. Kurt Kleinschmidt, a professor of emergency medicine in the Department of Medical Toxicology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. .

Kleinschmidt, who treats addicts, said many of his patients try to hide their drug use from those closest to them, such as parents or spouses. For this reason, an overdose death can be devastating to family and friends.

“It's very difficult to hide the disease of addiction, but there are always attempts to hide it,” said Kleinschmidt, who was not involved in the Rand Corporation study.

After someone dies from an overdose, loved ones often continue to feel guilty and wonder if they could have helped more. Kleinschmidt says this impact isn't talked about enough.

“The vast majority of families still feel sadness and guilt. The guilt is huge, because everyone thinks, 'What if I had pushed myself harder to get care?' It's from. Kleinschmidt added that he plans to share the RAND paper with colleagues in the field of addiction medicine.

“For those of us who practice addiction medicine, this is an area that we don't discuss as much as we need to,” he says. “I don’t think this is discussed enough.”

Robin Pollini, a professor at West Virginia University and an expert on overdose data, said she applauds the RAND University researchers who investigated the issue.

“While the number of overdose deaths is frequently mentioned, the collective trauma we are experiencing as a result of these deaths is rarely, if ever, discussed. More than 100,000 people a year All of these people had people who loved them, cared about them, and mourned their death,” Pollini, who was not involved in the new study, said in an email.

More than 111,000 people died from drug overdoses in the United States in the 12 months ending in September. Preliminary data According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics.

The number of drug-related overdose deaths in the United States continues to rise every month, but the pace appears to be slowing. Deaths hit a record high in May, but remained largely unchanged in the months leading up to September.

“We are grateful that researchers paid special attention to the impact that witnessing someone overdose or losing someone to an overdose has on drug users. “It's rarely discussed in policy circles,” Pollini said of the RAND study.

A limitation of the study is that it only looked at adults and did not include children's perspectives, she said.

“Because the data comes from a study of adults, this study does not provide insight into how overdose deaths affect children. People who died from overdose are their parents, grandparents, siblings…this is part of the story that is rarely told,” Pollini said in an email.

The report does not include children because the study included a panel of adults who had already participated in other RAND research studies, Athy said, but the report did not include children. He said he agrees that research suggests it is important to investigate the impact of overdose deaths on children.that there is high child suicide rate In communities where overdose death rates are high.

Overall, “I appreciate how thoughtful the authors are in articulating what we don't know about 'overdose losses.'” However, these deaths are preventable. It’s possible,” Pollini said. “We always emphasize that all of this can be prevented if we have the policy environment and resources necessary to broadly implement the many evidence-based interventions that we know reduce the risk of fatal overdose.” is needed.”