Topline
More than 321,000 children in the United States lost a parent to a drug overdose between 2011 and 2021, according to a new report published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry that provides a better understanding of the impact the opioid crisis has on victims’ families.
The opioid addiction support group Truth Pharm builds a memorial for people who have overdosed from ... [+]
Key Facts
Some 192,000 children were estimated to have lost fathers to drug overdoses, compared to 129,000 whose mothers died, according to the study, which estimated the number of deaths using national surveys and counted biological parents, adoptive parents, stepparents or adult guardians.
The age group with the highest rates of drug overdose were parents aged 41 to 64, followed by 26- to 40-year-old parents.
While the most deaths occurred among non-Hispanic white parents, the death rates were highest among non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native parents.
The study concluded that because of both the short- and long-term impacts that come with children losing a parent, policymakers should be sure that responses to overdoses “account for the full burden … including addressing the economic, social, educational, and health care needs of children.”
Big Number
134%. That’s how much the rate of children who lost a parent to a drug overdose increased over the course of the study from 2011 to 2021. In 2011, the rate was 27 per 100,000, and in 2021 it was 63.1 per 100,000, according to the study.
Crucial Quote
“These findings emphasize the need to better support parents in accessing prevention, treatment, and recovery services,” Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said in a news release. “Any child who loses a parent to overdose must receive the care and support they need to navigate this painful and traumatic experience.”
Key Background
The opioid crisis has been worsening in waves in the U.S. since the 1990s. In 1999, the first wave of increased deaths came due to an increase in prescription opioids, then again in 2010 with increases in deaths tied to heroin and then in 2013 with more deaths tied to synthetic opioids like fentanyl, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The amount of people who died from a drug overdose in 2021 was more than six times the amount who died in 1999, and more than three-quarters of drug overdose deaths in 2021 involved an opioid, the CDC said. Lawmakers and communities have been working to combat the opioid crisis, and much of the work has focused on surveillance and prevention efforts in communities.
