The epidemic of opioid addiction in our country has gotten plenty of attention over the years. But a new study points out that a pretty significant population of the country might be sitting right in our blind spot.
The study, published in the journal Pediatrics on Tuesday, revealed that adolescents are being prescribed a worrying amount of opioids. Researchers analyzed 11 years of data taken from patients in emergency rooms and outpatient clinics who were between 13 and 22 years old. That 11-year span, from 2005 to 2015, encompassed 78,000 total visits, in which 15 percent of ER visits and 3 percent of outpatient visits resulted in an opioid prescription.
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