TY - JOUR
T1 - More Than 1.4 Million US Children Have Lost a Family Member to Drug Overdose
AU - Verdery, Ashton M.
AU - Ryan-Claytor, Cayley
AU - Smith-Greenaway, Emily
AU - Sarkar, Nilakshi
AU - Livings, Michelle
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 American Public Health Association Inc.. All rights reserved.
PY - 2024/12
Y1 - 2024/12
N2 - Objectives. To estimate children’s exposure to family overdose in the United States. Methods. We used recent demographic kinship modeling advances and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent underlying cause of death estimates to model how many children aged younger than 18 years in 2019 had lost 1 or more parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts or uncles, or cousins to overdose mortality since birth. We calculated the number and proportion of children with such exposures and considered age, cohort, and gender patterning. Results. More than 1.4 million children in the United States, mostly adolescents, experienced a family overdose death, often losing central figures like parents or grandparents. Cohort analyses suggest dramatic increases in these exposures, portending mounting prevalence. Conclusions. Attention to the large population with lives disrupted by overdose deaths should include affected children. The long-arm consequences of the overdose crisis will continue to define the public health landscape for decades.
AB - Objectives. To estimate children’s exposure to family overdose in the United States. Methods. We used recent demographic kinship modeling advances and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent underlying cause of death estimates to model how many children aged younger than 18 years in 2019 had lost 1 or more parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts or uncles, or cousins to overdose mortality since birth. We calculated the number and proportion of children with such exposures and considered age, cohort, and gender patterning. Results. More than 1.4 million children in the United States, mostly adolescents, experienced a family overdose death, often losing central figures like parents or grandparents. Cohort analyses suggest dramatic increases in these exposures, portending mounting prevalence. Conclusions. Attention to the large population with lives disrupted by overdose deaths should include affected children. The long-arm consequences of the overdose crisis will continue to define the public health landscape for decades.
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U2 - 10.2105/AJPH.2024.307847
DO - 10.2105/AJPH.2024.307847
M3 - Article
C2 - 39326002
AN - SCOPUS:85208772377
SN - 0090-0036
VL - 114
SP - 1394
EP - 1397
JO - American journal of public health
JF - American journal of public health
IS - 12
ER -