Vital Signs – Prescription Drug Overdose – Transcript
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OPERATOR: Welcome and thank you for standing by.I'd like to inform all parties that your lines have been placed in a listen-only mode until the question and answer session of today's conference.Today's conference is also being recorded.If you have any objections, you may disconnect at this time.I would now like to turn the meeting over to Mr.
TOM SKINNER:Thank you, Calvin.Thank you all for joining us today for the release of another CDC vital signs report. We're joined today by the director of the CDC, Dr.
TOM FRIEDEN:Hello, thank you all very much for joining us.This month we have the latest in our monthly vital signs.Each month we focus on the latest data about a critical health issue that faces the country and what can be done about it.This month, the topic is overprescribing of opioid narcotics.Overdoses from opioid narcotics are a serious problem across the country.And we know that overdose deaths tend to be higher where opioids get heavier use.So you can see really two correlations.One, over time, over the past decade or more, there's been a dramatic increase in the amount of opioids prescribed and, two, across the country, there are dramatic differences.Now, prescription opiates can be an important tool for doctors to use, and some conditions are best treated with opioids.But they're not the answer to every time someone has pain.However, we found that health care providers in 2012 wrote 259 million prescriptions for opioids.That's enough for every American adult to have their own bottle of pills.In fact, we found that health care providers in some states prescribed these drugs three times as much as in other states.The opioid prescriptions ranged from a low of 52 for every 100 people, which is still awfully high in
TOM SKINNER:Calvin, we're ready for questions, please.
OPERATOR:Thank you.At this time, if you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your keyboard to ask a question.One moment for our first question.Our first question comes from
MIKE STOBBE:Thank you for taking -- actually I have two questions if I may.Dr. Frieden, you mentioned that the antibiotic prescription pattern was also high in the south compared to the rest of the country.In these numbers you're reporting with opioids, is this just a reflection that the south prescribes all sorts of medication more than other parts of the country?Are there other types of drug that follow the same pattern?
TOM FRIEDEN:These are just two that we've looked at.We haven't looked at others.But it is striking that we've seen this pattern in both of those situations that we've looked at.And in both cases, it's so important to look at both the risks and the benefits of medications.Every benefit -- every medication has both risks and potential benefits.So understanding what those are and when the balance tips is important.I will say that the pattern is not identical.It's just something of a trend because you also see very high rates of opioid prescription in the mid-Atlantic.So there are differences there.But this is something that we could look into further.
MIKE STOBBE:And my second question, if I may, do you have state-by-state data on opioid overdoses?And does that data match the opioid prescription data?Is it -- does one automatically lead to the other or is the order a little different?
TOM FRIEDEN:I'll ask Dr. Paulozzi to comment further.As a general trend, they correlate.But there are many factors at play.Len?
LEN PAULOZZI:Yes, this is
TOM SKINNER:Next question, Calvin?
OPERATOR:Next question comes from
MAGGIE FOX:I'm interested in knowing what you can do to educate doctors more in the states where it looks like they're overprescribing some of these painkillers.
TOM FRIEDEN:One thing is that states have sometimes joined together across the state to come up with statewide prescribing guidelines.For example,
LEN PAULOZZI:Yes.
MAGGIE FOX:So are you suggesting legislation to require this, because it does vary so much by state?And do you actually think that's a realistic thing to hope for?
TOM FRIEDEN:One thing that we want to see is more effective prescription drug monitoring programs and rigorous evaluation of what works in these.The states of
MAGGIE FOX:Thank you.
OPERATOR:Next question comes from
TOM FRIEDEN:This is really an
OPERATOR: Our next question comes from
OPERATOR:
OPERATOR: Our next --
OPERATOR: Our next question comes from
OPERATOR: Our next question comes from Nadia Kounang with CNN.
NADIA KOUNANG: Hi, thanks so much for taking my question.I wonder, in the example of Florida that you point out because obviously there's been a decrease in the use of pain pills, has there -- and I don't know if there is a quantitative measure for this -- but has there been an increase in other therapies like physical therapy or other therapies to target pain management?Do we also know in terms of pain from the patient perspective in a state like Florida where there's been a decrease in the use of pain pills, is pain management being met or maybe perhaps this issue in
OPERATOR: Our next question comes from
OPERATOR: Our next question comes from
OPERATOR: Our next question comes from
OPERATOR: Our next question comes from
OPERATOR: Our last question comes from Abby Hagledge with The Daily Beast. Your line is open.
ABBY HAGLEDGE: Hi, thank you for allowing me to ask a question.I'm wondering if this class of drugs -- this is sort of from 30,000 feet question.If this class of drugs is having such a negative and deadly effect on our population, why aren't we looking for alternate drug therapy options?And specifically, cannabis I know has been shown to be effective in treating chronic pain.In your education of these physicians on the danger of opioids, are you recommending that they try any of these alternate drug therapies?
OPERATOR: That concludes today's conference.You may disconnect at this time.Thank you for your participation.###
Copyright: | (c) 2011 Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc. |
Wordcount: | 5089 |
Vital Signs – Prescription Drug Overdose – Transcript
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