A population-based study of sociodemographic and clinical factors among children and adolescents with opioid overdose

Abstract

Study objectiveAn upsurge of high-risk opioid misuse has contributed to the epidemic of opioid overdose in the United States. The primary aim was to report the rate of opioid overdose among the pediatric population and to report demographic and medical differences among POD versus IOD populations. DesignRetrospective descriptive analysis of opioid overdose using the largest pediatric inpatient database in the United States. We performed a Pearson chi-square and Wilcoxon rank sum test to compare differences between cohorts. SettingMulti-institutional. PatientsData were obtained from the Kids' Inpatient Database of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. We used the International Classification of Disease, Ninth Revision codes to extract records of pediatric patients who were admitted for POD or IOD from 2000 to 2012. InterventionsNone. MeasurementsNone. Main resultsThe final analysis included 15,884 patients admitted to a United States hospitals with opioid overdose. The rate of POD and IOD has increased steadily from 2000 to 2012. Black, Asian or Pacific Islander, Native American, Multi-race, and Unknown race had higher proportion of POD versus IOD (p < 0.001). Compared to POD, the rate of IOD was highest in Northeast (29.2% versus 14.3%, p < 0.001) and Midwest (31.6%versus 26.1%, (p < 0.001) regions of the country. ConclusionsOur findings reinforce existing studies that report a continued rise in opioid morbidity and mortality while providing new insights into sociodemographic patterns and comorbidities associated with POD versus IOD.