August 31 is International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD), a day to remind those who have died from overdose, as well to admit the grief of friends and families. Targets contain increasing awareness concerning the risk for overdose, decreasing stigma linked with medication overdose deaths, supplying data concerning society services, and preventing and decreasing drug-linked harm by supporting proof-based policy and exercise.

Although schemes for prevention are being monitored and conducted, medication overdose remains the leading reason of injury-linked deaths (Lee et al., 2021). Deaths from medication overdose stay a considerable public health concern (Hedegaard et al., 2019).

A drug overdose is taking a large amount of substance, whether it’s over-the-counter, prescription, legal, or illegal. However, drug overdoses may be intentional or accidental. If you’ve taken more than the advised amount of a medication or enough to own a dangerous impact on your body’s roles, you have overdosed.

Drug overdose can happen at any stage of life, but older adults are mostly vulnerable. Older people own an elevated prevalence of multiple chronic medicinal situations; thence, they utilize more prescription medications than those in other age groups. However, ageing is linked with a decrease in first-pass metabolism due to a decrease in blood flow and liver mass (Anatharaju et al., 2002). Drug overdose continues to be the most common cause of acute poisoning all over the world (Litovitz et al., 2002).

The reason of a medication overdose is either by intentional misuse or by accidental overuse. However, accidental overdoses emerge from either a tiny child or an adult with weakened mental capabilities swallowing a drug left within their hand. An adult (particularly seniors or commune taking many drugs) can wrongly ingest the improper drug or take the incorrect dose of a drug.

Finally, your local poison center, your physician, or the emergency department of your native hospital may be capable to help define the severity of a suspected medication overdose. Development of any signs after drug overdose demands accurate and immediate data concerning the particular name of the medication, the amount of the medication ingested, as well the time when the medication was taken. Oftentimes, the bottle the medication came in, will own the data needed.

References:

Anatharaju, A., Feller, A. et al. (2002). Aging liver. A review. Gerontology, 48:343–353.

Hedegaard, H., Miniño, A.M. et al. (2019). Urban-rural differences in drug overdose death rates, by sex, age, and type of drugs involved, 2017. NCHS Data Brief, 345:1–8.

Lee, EH., Park, JO. et al. (2021). Prioritising Risk Factors for Prescription Drug Overdose among Older Adults in South Korea: A Multi-Method Study. Int J Environ Res Public Health, 18(11):5948.

Litovitz, TL., Klein-Schwartz, W. et al. (2002). 2001 Annual report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers Toxic Exposure Surveillance System. Am J Emerg Med., 20(5):391-452.