Prescription drug overuse deaths among women on the rise, CDC says

The CDC calls its mini-reports "VitalSigns."

Here is something from their latest:

Accidental deaths among women who overuse prescription drugs are rapidly rising, with a fivefold increase in deaths from abuse of opioid painkillers leading the way, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports in its latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly report. In 2010, there were 15,323 deaths among women from drug overdoses—a rate of 9.8 for every 100,000 women.

Though painkiller abuse was rising fastest, “the prominent involvement of psychotherapeutic drugs, such as benzodiazepines, among overdoses provides insight for prevention opportunities,” the report noted. A caution to prescribers: Women were far more likely to engage in doctor shopping to get drugs, the report suggested.

While drug abuse is rising fastest among women, men remain far more likely to die from drug overdoses, according to previous CDC reports. In 2008, the death rate from drug overdoses was 14.8 per 100,000 men compared to just 9.0 per 100,000 women. Men were nearly twice as likely to suffer deaths from opioid overdoses and three times more likely to die from overdoses of illegal drugs.