More Men Die From Overdoses Than Women

What do fentanyl, cocaine and heroin have in common? According to a study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), men are more likely to use and die from overdoses of these illegal drugs than women.

When the researchers analyzed the data by 10-year age groups, they found that men in each group had a higher rate of synthetic opioid overdose deaths than women.

Although National Institutes of Health (NIH) research shows that men use more drugs than women, the authors of the study, published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, explained that this difference alone does not explain the difference in mortality rates.

An opioid overdose caused most of the deaths

Among all the drugs the scientists studied, synthetic opioids like fentanyl were responsible for 29.0 deaths per 100,000 people in men, compared to 11.1 in women.

Heroin overdose caused 5.5 deaths per 100,000 people in men compared to 2.0 in women; and cocaine 10.6 deaths per 100,000 people in men, while 4.2 in women.

Psychostimulants such as methamphetamine caused 13.0 deaths per 100,000 people in men and 5.6 in women.

Because what is this?

The authors hypothesized that it was a combination of biological, behavioral, and other social and gender factors.

Behavioral factors include the possibility that men are more risky in using these drugs than women. However, this is doubtful as the cocaine overdose mortality rate was 2.8 times higher among the men in the study than among the women, even though their abuse rate was only 1.9 times higher than that of the women.

This makes it clear that there are other, for example biological, factors that can have an influence. Men may be more susceptible to drug toxicity than women.

“These data underscore the importance of looking at the differences between men and women in a multifaceted way,” said Eduardo Butelman, lead author of the study and associate professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Butelman emphasized that more studies need to be done and that future research should continue to explore how biology, social factors, and behaviors intersect with sex and gender factors.

Let’s do it

The NIDA study was released a day after the American Medical Association (AMA) announced that its members had adopted new substance use guidelines at its annual meeting this week.

In the context of overdoses, the AMA is urging states and communities to allow teachers, students and schools access to naloxone, an overdose-reversing drug.

“Just as students carry prescription inhalers to treat an asthma attack, we need to destigmatize substance use disorders and treat naloxone as a lifesaver,” said Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, Chair of the Substance Use Task Force. of Substances and Pain Care of the AMA, in a press release.

AMA members also voted to support the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in ensuring the safety of drug options. The AMA will oppose the use of any psychedelic or entactogenic agent for the treatment of psychiatric disorders unless approved by the FDA or prescribed in approved studies.

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