Research reveals important improve in drug overdoses in Colombia amongst younger girls

Overdose charges in Colombia involving unlawful opioids, hallucinogens, stimulants and sedative psychotropic remedy elevated enormously throughout 2018-2021, primarily attributable to overdoses in younger girls, in accordance with a research at Columbia College Mailman College of Public Well being. Drug overdoses elevated by 356 p.c from 8.5 to 40.5 p.c per 100,000 people from 2010 to 2021. The findings are printed within the American Journal of Public Well being.

The research is the primary to explain nationwide tendencies in overdose charges together with prescribed and unlawful substances and alcohol, throughout completely different inhabitants teams in Colombia.

The pandemic specifically contributed to increased ranges of misery and psychological well being issues together with melancholy and nervousness in Colombia, much like different nations.”

Silvia Martins, MD, PhD, Professor of Epidemiology at Columbia Mailman College and senior creator of the research

Increased prescriptions charges, and use of tranquilizers/sedatives/antidepressants in Colombia, in the course of the pandemic, because of experiences of upper ranges of hysteria, disappointment, and difficulties to sleep, could have led to the overuse of medication. This was extra pronounced amongst girls.”

Almost 14 p.c of individuals utilizing substances in 2020 met standards for a substance use-related dysfunction.

Based mostly on outcomes from the 2019 Nationwide Survey on Substance Use (CNSSU, Estudio Nacional de Consumo de Sustancias Psicoactivas de Colombia, 2019), the researchers discovered that substance use elevated for many substances within the nation previously three many years, with solely a small discount within the prevalence of alcohol, hashish, and cocaine use in 2019 in comparison with 2013.

To look at tendencies in overdose charges from 2010 to 2021, by kind of substance, intercourse, age-group and intent in addition to sociodemographic traits the researchers additionally used knowledge from SIVIGILA –a nationwide public well being surveillance system, from 2010 to 2021, a compulsory notification system to find out well being occasions.

The SIVIGILA knowledge included 127,087 substance-use-related overdoses amongst individuals ages 10 and older, of which 54 p.c have been males, 75 p.c have been individuals aged 10-34, 72 p.c had at the very least some highschool training or increased, and 51 p.c and 38 p.c respectively have been people who both contributed to the well being system or who have been backed.

Data was used to group overdoses by substance kind within the following classes: hallucinogens; stimulants (together with prescription stimulants, cocaine, and methamphetamine); opioids (together with prescription opioids, heroin, methadone and buprenorphine); inhalants; tranquilizers, sedatives and antidepressants; in addition to hashish. The researchers recognized probably the most frequent combos of a number of substances throughout the research interval and the variety of overdoses attributable to these combos.

Essentially the most continuously reported substances have been tranquilizers/sedatives/antidepressants (43 p.c), hashish (16 p.c)), stimulants (16 p.c), alcohol (16 p.c), and opioids (6 p.c). The bulk (95 p.c), of stimulant overdoses have been because of cocaine, whereas opioid overdoses have been largely because of prescription opioids (74 p.c).

Overdose charges involving tranquilizers/sedatives/antidepressants and people involving opioids elevated over the research interval, rising at a quicker price after 2018. Drug overdoses involving hashish and stimulants additionally elevated till 2017 however decreased afterwards. Amongst girls, the sharpest improve in overdose charges have been for tranquilizers/sedatives/antidepressants, which elevated quicker from 2018 to 2021 (from 12 to 33 per 100,000, respectively).

Extra analysis on threat components, motivations to be used, and sources of those medicines is required to enhance hurt discount interventions and insurance policies,” noticed Julian Santaella-Tenorio, DrPH, professor at Universidad Pontificia Javeriana in Cali, Colombia, former Columbia DrPH scholar, and first creator of the research. “We additionally imagine that suicide threat screening and entry to complementary psychological well being care addressing suicidal ideation or habits could enhance well being outcomes amongst people being prescribed these medicines and people having just lately skilled an overdose.”

“Addressing substance use challenges, together with the emergence of novel medicine and of polysubstance use, is a fancy process that requires a very good understanding of the magnitude of the issue and the burden it imposes on populations and the well being system,” mentioned Martins and Santaella-Tenorio.

It’s attainable that the lower within the prevalence of hashish and stimulants use in youthful populations may be attributed to mobility restrictions in the course of the COVID pandemic; reductions in these overdose charges could also be additionally associated to modifications in consumption patterns which might be much less prone to end in overdose, famous the researchers.

In line with Martins and Santaella, survey knowledge probably underestimates the prevalence of drug use provided that the CNSSU is a family survey that excludes populations with high-risk of drug use – i.e. homeless and incarcerated populations. As well as, overdoses not handled at well being services usually are not included within the SIVIGILA knowledge.

Over the previous three many years, Colombia has transitioned to a human rights and public health-approach regulatory framework concerning substance use, an strategy that’s aligned with The United Nations Workplace on Medicine and Crime pointers.

The findings recommend that extra prevention efforts are obligatory, together with hurt discount and community-based applications, and higher entry to therapy providers that may cut back the chance on overdose within the inhabitants. 

“Well being surveillance methods are an necessary device that may information overdose prevention efforts in nations with restricted knowledge sources. Whereas this explicit research focuses on Colombia, their surveillance methods methodology can generate info for public well being prevention efforts in different resource-poor nations,” famous Martins.

Co-authors are Jhoan Sebastian Zapata Lopez, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Colombia, Luis E. Segura, Columbia College Division of Epidemiology, Magdalena Cerda, NYU Division of Inhabitants Well being, Thiago Fidalgo and Vitor Tardelli, Universidade Federal de São Paulo UNIFESP), Brazil.

The research was partially supported by a Columbia College World Innovation Fund.