Findings seen across drug types and most ages, even when accounting for rates of drug misuse<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter<\/b><\/p>\n
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THURSDAY, June 15, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Men are more likely to have a fatal overdose than women across drug categories, according to a study published June 14 in Neuropsychopharmacol<\/em>ogy<\/em>.<\/p>\n Eduardo R. Butelman, Ph.D., from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, and colleagues used the CDC WONDER database to analyze state-level epidemiological data on overdose mortality, across 10-year age groups (age range: 15 to 74) for decedents in the United States in 2020 to 2021.<\/p>\n The researchers found that for all drug categories (synthetic opioids [e.g., fentanyl], heroin, psychostimulants with potential for misuse [e.g., methamphetamine], and cocaine), men had greater overall overdose mortality than women, even when controlling for rates of drug misuse. Across jurisdictions, the mean male\/female sex ratio of mortality rate was relatively stable (synthetic opioids, 2.5; heroin, 2.9; psychostimulants, 2.4; cocaine, 2.8). The sex difference was generally consistent across age groups, particularly for the 25 to 64 age range.<\/p>\n “Results indicate that males are significantly more vulnerable than females to overdose deaths caused by opioid and stimulant drugs, taking into account differing state-level environmental conditions and drug misuse levels,” the authors write.<\/p>\n