An amazingly informative video prepared and submitted by St. Michael’s Hospital physician Dr. Irfan Dhalla for the FDA. In the video are some very scary statistics about Opioid misuse in Ontario. Among the statistics Dr. Dhalla points out:
- As many as 33% of opioid patients meet the criteria for an opioid use disorder
- Elderly patients using opioid have much increased risk of falls and fractures
- Patients using the drugs see their physicians an average of 18 times per year.
The Wall Street Journal covered the hearing and cited some scary statistics:
More than 16,000 people died of opioid overdoses in 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than from heroin, cocaine and all other illegal drugs combined.
Categories Pain Drug and Practice Abuse