User:Mattsoml7031/Opioid epidemic

https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/pediatrics/early/2019/01/02/peds.2018-2752.full.pdf

https://journals.lww.com/co-anesthesiology/Abstract/2020/06000/The_opioid_epidemic_in_pediatrics__a_2020_update.13.aspx

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091743519304554

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1066480719868705?casa_token=uD0j7-5HeTQAAAAA:vQCJ_kwEhLayZahZwWSBT_c3LVsexhBho5PTP6kf9gliDzl7MLiCGAvqvTjJi6NqinpzB4qgSSNLeA

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6422350/

http://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC6446903&blobtype=pdf

Adolescents are also another category of people that can become easily addicted to opioids. But even before their teenage years, children go through rapid growth of their reward center, also known as the mesolimbic pathway. The development of their reward center allows children to be easily satisfied by small rewards to encourage learning, motivation and acceptable behavior. However, this growth peaks in their adolescent years and they start to feel a need for larger, more meaningful rewards, such as psychoactive substances which produce reward signals through direct receptor binding. Teens also have an underdeveloped prefrontal cortex which governs impulse control and decision making. The combination of an underdeveloped prefrontal cortex and a rundown reward system can lead to adolescents with addictive seeking behaviors and higher susceptibility to the neurological changes developed in substance use disorder (SUD). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that In 2018, over 53 million people aged 12 years and older in the United States, reported the misuse of prescription drugs.

A 2020 review of the opioid epidemic in pediatrics stated that there were 4,094 opioid overdose deaths in adolescents ages 14-24 in 2017. Teens commonly use opioids as recreational drugs, instead of what they are supposed to be used for, pain management. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that for every opioid death of a teen there are 119 emergency visits and 22 treatment admissions related to opioid abuse. Half a million teenagers in 2014 were reported as non medically prescribed opioid users and a third of those as having a substance use disorder (SUD).

Family is widely discussed as an influence for factors affecting adolescent opioid misuse behavior and in treatment of adolescent opioid misuse. Family involvement has been shown to be effective in decreasing substance use in adolescents by addressing family risk factors that may be contributing to an adolescent’s substance use. Some of these risk factors that are contributing to the increase in popularity of opioids include easy accessibility. The late 1990's increase in opioid recommendation from pharmaceutical companies created an abundance of prescription painkiller's in adult households. If family members are taking opioids for pain or have taken them in the past and did not dispose of them correctly or do not protect them properly, it can make it easy for adolescents to get their hands on them. Proper disposal of these drugs is crucial to reducing adolescent misuse. A national insurance cohort reviewed almost 90,000 opioid prescribed patients, 13-21 years old, and found that 5% continued to fill their prescription 90 days or more after surgery. Medicine take-back programs are the most recommended and regulated disposal method by the United States Drug Enforcement Agency, although, it is not guaranteed that the prescribed patient will comply with this recommendation. There are also eight different at home drug disposal products on the market but none of them are federal agency approved or in the process of being evaluated. The main concern of proper opioid disposal is trash and sewage disposal that create pharmaceutical pollution and still grants access for adolescents with substance use disorders.

Not only are youth at a heightened risk of developing opioid addictions, but treating opioid use disorder in this population is also more difficult than it is for older individuals. A systematic review of the epidemiological literature has found that adolescents and young adults consistently have shorter retention times in medication treatments for opioid use disorder than do older adults. This is why it is important for schools to implement effective strategies and programs to teach young children about the dangers and consequences of opioid misuse. Although their retention time is much lower that adults, educating them from a younger age on opioid misuse should help keep children away from these drugs.