The Critical Role of Pharmacists in Treating Older People in the Opioid Crisis

Sr Care Pharm. 2023 Feb 1;38(2):47-49. doi: 10.4140/TCP.n.2023.47.

Abstract

Pharmacy-based Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) treatment has been identified as a central pillar in curbing the spiraling opioid epidemic that claimed more than 100,000 lives in the United States in a one year period for the first time. This epidemic is also partially responsible for the plummeting US life expectancy that began prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and has now claimed more than 500,000 lives since 1999 with more than 70% of the 70,630 overdose deaths in 2019 involved with an opioid. Older people are at increased risk of both OUD and OUD-related complications. Recent studies have demonstrated that people older than 65 years of age were more likely to die of OUD-related complications, and - because of an increased likelihood of polypharmacy - are more likely to experience a drug interaction that magnifies the risk of an opioid-related misadventure.

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Analgesics, Opioid / adverse effects
  • COVID-19* / epidemiology
  • Humans
  • Opioid Epidemic
  • Opioid-Related Disorders* / drug therapy
  • Pandemics
  • Pharmacists
  • United States

Substances

  • Analgesics, Opioid