The publication recently analyzed data from the CDC and found the number of middle-aged white women dying annually from opiate overdoses rose 400 percent between 1999 and 2014. The analysis also showed anti-anxiety drugs known as benzodiazepines played a role in a growing share of the 54,000 deaths over that period, according to The Washington Post.
According to an analysis by The Washington Post of middle-aged participants in the latest National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, white women are more likely than women of other races to be prescribed opiates, and far more likely to be prescribed both opiates and anti-anxiety drugs. Additionally, according to the article, white women prescribed opiates are five times as likely as white men to be given that drug combination.
For more on this story, including how federal health officials have recognized the danger of prescription drug combinations, read Kimberly Kindy and Dan Keating’s full report in The Washington Post.
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