Opioid dealths in rural America | Accidental overdose deaths are higher in rural than urban areas in America.
A new report published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports preventable deaths due to opioids are far higher in rural counties compared to urban counties, and now significantly outweigh the overall national death rate.
Excess death rates from unintentional opioid overdose remain considerably higher in rural areas of the US, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there could be a number of challenges to addressing this problem.
In a recent report, the CDC laid out new data on the 5 leading causes of excess deaths in rural regions of the country. Opioid-related deaths, in particular, remain a prevalent issue for rural communities, with approximately 50% higher age-adjusted death rates compared to urban areas of the country.
The research highlights a major cause of mortality in rural counties of the country, and according to Mark Faul, PhD, MA, a senior health scientist at the CDC, many of the challenges rural communities face with opioid deaths relate to emergency care resources, which are scarce and geographically challenged.
- “The first thing to note is that about 15% or 20% of all EMS, who are the first folks to arrive on the scene and potentially administer naloxone, are in rural areas that account for about 80% of the land mass in America,” Dr. Faul told Practical Pain Management.
The geographic disadvantages for emergency personnel can be tremendous, considering the time it takes to cover such distances and the time it takes for an opioid overdose to become fatal, Dr. Faul explained.
“It doesn’t mean there was no response at all, it just means that when there’s an opioid overdose and there’s crisis, it’s harder to make the optimal response in a rural community, given those constraints,” said Dr. Faul.
- Rural areas also typically have far less paramedic personnel on call who are trained to administer the opioid antagonist naloxone.
Basic EMT personnel are not permitted to administer naloxone, and while this statute has been overridden by about more than half of states, which by law can determine their EMS policies, it is still the general national policy, Dr. Faul noted.
