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Older adults taking opioids at risk for toxicity or death, report says
TORONTO — When most people think about opioid overdoses, it’s typically a younger person that comes to mind. But it’s often older Canadians who bear the brunt of detrimental effects related to the powerful narcotics.
In fact, about 30 per cent of all opioid-related deaths in Canada in 2017 occurred among those aged 50 and older, while adults 65-plus had the highest rates of hospitalization due to toxicity from the painkillers, says a report by the National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly (NICE), released Wednesday in Ottawa.
“The attention seems to be on the younger population, whereas the data suggest that it’s older adults who are just as — if not more — adversely affected in this opiate crisis,” said geriatric addiction specialist Marilyn White-Campbell, who collaborated on the study.
“And that’s where there’s this idea of the invisible epidemic, because it’s not really seen as an older person’s problem.”