Opioid Crisis Indirectly Drives Up Child Suicide Rates, Study Suggests
By driving up rates of child neglect and altered household living arrangements, the nation’s opioid crisis has been linked in part to a rise in child suicides in the US since 2010, according to a study released by the not-for-profit research organization RAND Corporation on Monday.
Findings were published in the journal Demography.
A reformulation of prescription opioids designed to discourage misuse led to a rise in users seeking illicit opioid alternatives. This may have contributed to the growth of the illicit opioid market, and therefore, an increase in adverse living situations that has played a role in the rise of youth suicides since 2010.
“While the use of illicit opioids did not increase among children, it appears they were negatively affected by the broader effects of the illicit opioid crisis,” David Powell, the study’s lead author and a senior economist at RAND, said in a news release. “Areas more impacted by the transition to illicit opioids due to higher rates of previous OxyContin misuse showed sharper growth in child suicide rates.”
Among children between the ages of 10 and 17, suicide rates accelerated from 2011 to 2018 at an unprecedented level and duration. By 2020, suicide was found to be the second leading cause of death among the 10-to-17-year-old population, leading a collection of medical groups that included the American Academy of Pediatrics to declare a national state of emergency in children’s mental health in 2021.
The children’s mental health crisis and the nation’s opioid crisis previously were considered independent of one another, but Powell and associates analyzed National Vital Statistics System Multiple Cause of Death and National Survey on Drug Use and Health data to explore a potential link. The study included data from 1980 to 2020.
Researchers found an inflection point in 2010, the year in which the opioid OxyContin was reformulated to prevent misuse. The change caused many users to seek other sources of drugs, driving a rise in illicit opioid use.
Although drug overdose rates for children between the ages of 10 and 17 remained consistent in the ensuing decade, rates of child suicide increased more sharply in states where illicit opioid use became more prevalent. RAND researchers estimated that the reformulation of OxyContin accounted for 49% of the rise in child suicides from 2011 to 2020, based on an extrapolation analysis. White, Asian American, and Pacific Islander children were disproportionately affected.
“The results are consistent with the growth in illicit opioid use among the adult population generating worsening conditions for children by increasing rates of child neglect,” Powell said.
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