CNN
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The Covid-19 outbreak presented many dangers for children, and a new study suggests that the increase in the ingestion of illicit substances was among them.
In the first month of the pandemic in 2020, there was a 25% increase in overall intakes among children under 6 years of age in the United States, according to the study published Friday in JAMA Network Open.
Those numbers grew 1.8% more per month than before the pandemic, according to the study.
“The immediate and sustained increase in opioids the ingestions occurred during the largest-ever increase in adult overdose deaths, largely driven by synthetic opioids,” said study lead author Dr. Brittany Raffa, a clinical instructor in pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and National Primary Care Research Service Award. research partner.
The study analyzed data from 7,659 children under the age of 6. who were treated for ingestion of amphetamines, benzodiazepines, cannabis, cocaine, ethanol and opioids at 46 pediatric hospitals, according to the study.
“This is an important study, with a clear indication of the continued elevated risk of drug and alcohol use for young children in the US,” said Dr. James Dodington, associate professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at Yale School of Medicine. Dodington was not involved in the study.
More research would be needed to know why children’s intakes increased, but the study emphasized the need to identify parental mental health interventions, offer substance treatment services, provide accessible childcare and educate adults about substance storage.
“Families were left without proper supervision of children with most daycare centers and schools closed or virtual (during the early part of the pandemic),” Raffa said in an email. “As general stress and parental substance use increased, substance use treatment centers and mental health care took a hit.”
Dodington said: “In particular, elevations in cannabis and opioid intake are marked, and this study points to the need to develop more comprehensive childhood intake prevention strategies.”
Those intakes that increased in children were similar to substances that appear to have increased in adult use in the pandemic, although some research has different information on drug use trends, said Dr. Danielle Ompad, a professor of epidemiology at New York University. Ompad was not involved in the study.
The results could be skewed if health care providers were vigilant about intakes, Dodington added.
“Given the increase in opioid and cannabis use in the US, health care providers may be testing children more frequently, and we may be detecting more ingestions,” he said. in an email.
As worrisome as these ingestions may be, Ompad noted that there is none information about where or how they happened, then, the public should not be quick to blame parents or caregivers.
There was no association between the legalization of medical or recreational cannabis and the rate of cannabis ingestion encounters, according to the study.
Taking drugs and alcohol is particularly dangerous for young children, Dodington said.
When it comes to edible marijuana products, a single snack could have several times the recommended dose of THC for adults, said Dr. Brian Johnston, executive committee member of the American Academy of Poison, Violence and Injury Prevention Council. Pediatrics. in a 2021 CNN article.
THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the main psychoactive compound in cannabis that produces the feeling of a high.
“Anyone who eats one of these products, especially a child, can experience overdose effects such as intoxication, altered perception, anxiety, panic, paranoia, dizziness, weakness, slurred speech, poor coordination, or even respiratory and heart problems,” Johnston said. . , who was not involved in this week’s study.
Researchers and policymakers must take steps to prevent ingestion and educate and support parents and guardians about the risks to children, Dodington said.
And along with mental health and addiction interventions, educational efforts should focus on safe storage, especially of groceries, he said.
Ideally, people who live with or are visited by children should not store drugs at home or in a place that young people have access to, Ompad said.
If you use drugs and store them at home, make sure they are locked up when children are around and in a child-resistant container or safe, he added.
“This is particularly true for cannabis edibles or any other drug that looks like food or candy – they are tempting for children,” Ompad said.
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