“The vast majority of young people struggling with addiction to opioids are not receiving medications that have been recommended to treat their disease, a new study shows.
Only one in four received one of the medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration – methadone, buprenorphine or naltrexone – within three months of their diagnosis, according to the report in JAMA Pediatrics.
The situation was even worse for the younger people with addiction, researchers found. Just one in 21 adolescents under age 18 received one of the guideline-recommended medications, researchers found.
“This study shows that the great majority of youth are not receiving treatment recommended in evidence-based guidelines,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Scott Hadland, a pediatrician and addiction specialist at the Grayken Center for Addiction at the Boston Medical Center. “That’s really concerning because the data suggest that when people do receive medication they are much more likely to remain in treatment.”
Read more at: https://whbl.com/news/articles/2018/sep/10/young-people-with-opioid-addiction-not-getting-proper-treatment/
Source: WHBL.com – September 10, 2018
