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Holly Francis, a unpaid with Boston Medical Center helped to works immoderate of the 20,000 purple flags successful the Common that commemorate Overdose Awareness Day and footwear disconnected Recovery Month. Each purple emblem represents 1 beingness mislaid to overdose successful Massachusetts implicit the past 10 years.
Jessica Rinaldi | Boston Globe | Getty Images
Deaths from cause and intoxicant usage are rising among America's seniors.
Drug overdose deaths much than tripled among radical property 65 and older during the past 2 decades portion deaths from intoxicant maltreatment accrued much than 18% from 2019 to 2020, according to information published Wednesday by the National Center for Health Statistics.
More than 800,000 seniors suffered from cause addiction and 2.7 cardinal suffered from intoxicant addiction successful 2020, according to abstracted information from the Health and Human Services Department.
In total, much than 5,000 seniors died of cause overdoses successful 2020 and much than 11,600 succumbed to alcohol, according to the NCHS data. Though cause overdose decease rates are little for seniors than different property groups, they person accrued substantially from 2.4 per 100,000 successful 2000 to 8.8 per 100,000 successful 2020.
"We've got a nationalist wellness occupation coming astatine our doorway — these trends person been expanding for a agelong clip now," said Alexis Kuerbis, a prof astatine the Silberman School of Social Work and an adept connected substance usage among older adults.
Seniors contiguous are babe boomers, a procreation that had a overmuch much unfastened cognition toward drugs and intoxicant than their parents, Kuerbis said. Some babe boomers person carried intoxicant and cause habits from their younker and mediate property into their aboriginal years erstwhile their bodies are nary longer capable to tolerate them, she said.
"Baby boomers evidently are precise antithetic procreation than the soundless procreation oregon the World War II generation," Kuerbis said. "Baby boomers were acold much unfastened to utilizing intoxicant and drugs during their younger years but besides done their middle-aged years and present they are older adults," she said.
Deaths from fentanyl and different synthetic opioids accrued 53% among seniors from 2019 to 2020, according to the data. Kuerbis said there's immoderate grounds to suggest radical who were prescribed opioids successful their mediate property for an wounded aboriginal switched to fentanyl erstwhile it became harder to get a prescription.
If you are having suicidal thoughts oregon are successful distress, interaction the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for enactment and assistance from a trained counselor.
While immoderate cause deaths among seniors are from accidental misuse of drugs, galore are suicides from overdosing connected opioids, Kuerbis said. Although seniors thin to beryllium happier than younger adults, they besides person a higher prevalence of chronic pain, terminal unwellness and dementia, she said.
Some older adults besides usage drugs oregon intoxicant to header with large beingness changes specified arsenic retirement, grief and loss, oregon a alteration successful their surviving situation, according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse.
Drug overdose deaths were highest among Black seniors. The decease complaint from drugs among Black men ages 65 to 74 was much than 4 times higher than Hispanic oregon achromatic men successful that property group, according to the data. Black women ages 65 to 74 died much often from cause overdoses than achromatic and Hispanic women. White women older than 75 had a higher decease complaint from drugs than Black and Hispanic women.
Alcohol deaths were highest among American Indian seniors followed by Hispanics, achromatic Americans, Black Americans and Asian Americans, according to the data.
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