Adventures from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Epidemic. We typically associate this word with infectious disease outbreaks, often outside of the United States. But right here in the U.S., we are in the middle of a unique epidemic: an opioid epidemic. Opioids have long been used for the treatment of short-term pain, and more recently for long-term pain. But rising rates of(...)
Every 19 minutes, someone dies from an opioid overdose in the United States. Yet the number of opioids prescribed annually is so high that each American adult could be medicated on a full bottle of pills around the clock for a whole month. Between 2013 and 2014, the risk of dying from opioid overdose increased(...)