A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds an alarming increase in deaths among women from overdoses of prescription drugs. The data shows that between 1999 and 2010 deaths among women from overdoses of prescription drugs increased fivefold. Some 48,000 women died from prescription drug overdoses during the period.
Other data from the report shows that about 18 women die each day from prescription drug overdoses, more than from motor vehicle crashes. Drug doses account for 34 percent of all suicides among women, compared to 8 percent among men.
CDC director Tom Frieden stated, “Prescription painkiller deaths have skyrocketed in women, four times as many as died from cocaine and heroin combined. Stopping this epidemic in women is everyone’s business. Doctors need to be cautious about prescribing and patients about using these drugs.”