According to a new study published Wednesday in the Journal of Pediatrics, more children under the age of five are dying from opioid overdoses.
Researchers discovered that opioids accounted for 52% of overdose deaths in young children in 2018, more than double the rate of 24% in 2005. Throughout that 13-year span, 731 youngsters died as a result of drug overdoses.
Opioid Drug Causes Children’s Deaths
Several studies have revealed that the number of fatal poisonings in this age group has been declining since the Poison Prevention Packaging Act was passed in 1970 when harder-to-open childproof packaging became a standard for many drugs.