Young kids at risk of opioid overdose from adult prescriptions in household: study
TORONTO — Young children whose mothers have been prescribed an opioid are at an increased risk of being hospitalized for an overdose from the potent pain medications, most often through accidental ingestion, a study has found.
“It wouldn’t be at all surprising for a two- or three-year-old to find a tablet and put it in his or her mouth,” said Dr. David Juurlink, a senior scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences who co-authored the study.
“And it’s important to understand that a single tablet could kill a small child. These are very dangerous drugs at the high end of the dose range.”
The study used 2002-2015 health records to identify 103 children aged 10 or younger who were treated in an Ontario hospital for an overdose and whose mothers had received publicly funded prescriptions for an opioid in the preceding year.