The study revealed a significant gender difference in overdose deaths related to opioid and stimulant drugs, with men being at a higher risk of dying compared to women.
A recent study looked at information about people who died from
‘Men's higher frequency or larger quantities of drug use may render them more susceptible to fatal outcomes. Conversely, women may possess specific protective factors that decrease their risk of death in comparison to men. #Overdose #Drugs
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The study, published in Neuropsychopharmacology, was led by investigators at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (1✔ ✔Trusted SourceOverdose mortality rates for opioids and stimulant drugs are substantially higher in men than in women: state-level analysis
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“Though men and women are being exposed to the modern, fentanyl-contaminated drug supply, something is leading men to die at significantly higher rates. It may be that men use drugs more frequently or in greater doses, which could increase their risk of death, or there may be protective factors among women that reduce their risk of death compared to men,” said Nora Volkow, M.D., director of NIDA and one of the co-authors on the study. “Understanding the biological, behavioral, and social factors that impact drug use and our bodies’ responses is critical to develop tailored tools to protect people from fatal overdose and other harms of drug use.”
Researchers Analyzed Overdose Mortality Data State-By-State
In 2021, nearly 107,000 people died of a drug overdose, largely driven by potent, illicit fentanyl which now contaminates the drug supply. Data have consistently shown that the rate of drug overdose deaths is significantly higher for men than women. In addition, data suggest that men are more likely than women to use almost all types of illicit drugs. Building on these data, researchers sought to determine the extent to which this known sex difference in overdose mortality varies by drug, state, and age, and to investigate whether the increased rate of overdose death among men held true when controlling for higher rates of drug misuse among men compared to women.To do so, researchers conducted a state-by-state analysis of nationally representative epidemiological data on overdose mortality among people aged 15–74 from 2020-2021 in the U.S., using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (CDC WONDER) platform. The scientists also used state-level, nationally representative data from the National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) to estimate and control for rates of drug misuse (taking drugs in a way not recommended by a health care provider) among men compared to women. The NSDUH is conducted annually by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
For specific drugs, and after controlling for the sex-specific rate of drug misuse, the researchers found that the overall rates of drug overdose death by sex from 2020-2021 were:
- Synthetic opioids (e.g., fentanyl): 29.0 deaths per 100,000 people for men, compared to 11.1 for women
- Heroin: 5.5 deaths per 100,000 people for men, compared to 2.0 for women
- Psychostimulants (e.g., methamphetamine): 13.0 deaths per 100,000 people for men, compared to 5.6 for women
- Cocaine: 10.6 deaths per 100,000 people for men, compared to 4.2 for women
While researchers also found that men reported misusing drugs more than women, the magnitude of difference recorded for overdose mortality between men and women was substantially greater than the difference of reported drug misuse. For example, by comparing the data from CDC WONDER and NSDUH, the researchers found that men had a 2.8 greater rate of cocaine overdose mortality compared to women, though men only had a 1.9 greater rate of cocaine misuse compared to women.
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“These data emphasize the importance of looking at the differences between men and women in a multilayered way,” said Eduardo R. Butelman Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and a lead author on the study. “Moving forward, it will be important for researchers to continue to investigate how biology, social factors, and behaviors intersect with sex and gender factors, and how all of these can impact addictive drug misuse and overdose deaths.”
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- Overdose mortality rates for opioids and stimulant drugs are substantially higher in men than in women: state-level analysis - (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41386-023-01601-8)
source-Eurekalert