With increasing age, older adults are more likely to encounter health conditions and injuries that require opioid therapy for pain relief. This reality means that opioid overdoses are a concern for older adults as well as for their family members and other caregivers.
A new Gerontological Society of America report, “ Staying Safe with Opioids at Home ,” describes questions about pain management and opioid reversal for older adults and their caregivers and presents a decision tree to guide their actions.
“Caregivers should take the steps described in this guide if someone has signs and symptoms that indicate an apparent overdose,” the report states. “To be prepared for a possible opioid overdose, naloxone should always be in the home if opioids are present or if any family members bring in opioids that were not purchased at a pharmacy.”
Organized into four key questions, the report covers monitoring, storage, and discarding opioids; the most common and most serious side effects of opioids; prior use of illicit drugs and possible use of recreational drugs during opioid therapy; and what to do if family members and other caregivers are concerned that an older adult has overdosed on opioids.
Among the key points emphasized in the report:
Emergent BioSolutions provided support for this report.
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The Gerontological Society of America (GSA), founded in 1945, is the nation’s oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization focused on aging. It serves more than 6,000 members in over 50 countries. GSA’s vision, meaningful lives as we age, is supported by its mission to foster excellence, innovation, and collaboration to advance aging research, education, practice, and policy. GSA is home to the National Academy on an Aging Society (a nonpartisan public policy institute) and the National Center to Reframe Aging.