Female Brains & Painkiller Overdoses, 3

The Centers for Disease Control reports that female brains can be at high risk for prescription painkiller overdoses. The following factors may contribute to that:

• Women are more likely to have chronic pain, be prescribed prescription painkillers, be given higher doses, and use them for longer time periods than men.

• Women may become dependent on prescription painkillers more quickly than men.

• Women may be more likely than men to engage in “doctor shopping” (obtaining prescriptions from multiple prescribers).

• Abuse of prescription painkillers by pregnant women can put an infant at risk. Cases of neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS)—which is a group of problems that can occur in newborns exposed to prescription painkillers or other drugs while in the womb—grew by almost 300% in the US between 2000 and 2009.

http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/PrescriptionPainkillerOverdoses/index.html

Part 4 (last section) tomorrow