About The Study: Mirroring trends seen among adults, pediatric deaths from fentanyl began to increase substantially in 2013, resulting in a more than 30-fold increase in mortality between 2013 and 2021. A surge that began in 2018 has led to a nearly 3-fold increase in deaths among older adolescents and a nearly 6-fold increase among children younger than 5 years. Across age groups, annual deaths peaked in 2020 and 2021, suggesting that the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this public health crisis.
Authors: Julie R. Gaither, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.N., of the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, is the corresponding author.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2023.0793)
Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support.
# # #
Embed this link to provide your readers free access to the full-text article This link will be live at the embargo time https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2023.0793?guestAccessKey=c5601bcd-c204-4bbc-898f-98a0c8402abd&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=050823
JAMA Pediatrics