1 in every 5 deaths among American young adults related to opioids: study

NEW YORK, June 3 (Xinhua) -- One in every five deaths among young adults in the United States in 2016 was related to opioids, either illicit or prescribed, a new study suggested.

The study, led by researchers from St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, Canada, used data from the WONDER database of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which tracks mortality and causes of death in the United States.

In 2016, one in every 65 deaths among Americans was related to opioids, an increase of 296 percent from 2001, the study found. The number varied by age group and sex. More than two thirds of such deaths were among men.

The highest rate was among young adults aged 24-35. Twenty percent of all deaths in this age group was opioid-related, up from only 4 percent in 2001, the study showed.

For other age groups, opioid-related deaths accounted for a smaller proportion of all deaths but were still common.

It is estimated that in 2016, nearly 1.7 million years of life were lost prematurely due to opioids, which was higher than that caused by diseases like HIV/AIDS, high blood pressure and pneumonia.

"Premature death from opioid-related causes imposes an enormous and growing public health burden across the United States," the researchers write in the paper, published Friday in the journal JAMA Network Open.

"These trends highlight a need for tailored programs and policies," they added.

Opioids, including prescription opioids, heroin and fentanyl, killed more than 42,000 Americans in 2016, more than any year on record, according to the CDC. Enditem