Alarming gender disparity in overdose deaths is revealed by a new study, with men at 2-3 times higher risk.

According to a recent study that looked at mortality records in the US, men were much more likely than women to die from an opioid or stimulant overdose in 2020–2021. The study, which was published in Neuropsychopharmacology, revealed that men had overdose deaths from opioids (such as fentanyl and heroin) and psychostimulants (such as methamphetamine and cocaine) at rates that were 2-3 times higher.

Although it is common knowledge that men use drugs more frequently than women, the study showed that this difference does not entirely explain the variation in overdose deaths. Instead, it is more likely that a mix of biological, behavioral, and societal factors are to blame for men's elevated mortality risk.

The alarming rise in opioid and stimulant overdose deaths in the United States, notably during the COVID-19 pandemic, served as the study's primary impetus. With greater rates than women, men have been disproportionately impacted by this rise in overdose death. For effective interventions and initiatives to prevent fatal overdoses and lessen the negative effects of drug use, it is imperative to understand the causes of this sex-based disparity in overdose mortality.

Opioid Overdose Rescue: 5 Ways to Save a Life ➜ video

Opioid Overdose Rescue: 5 Ways to Save a Life

The need to determine whether other factors were at work in addition to men's higher rates of drug use was highlighted by the researchers as a necessity for further investigation. Men may use drugs more frequently or in bigger dosages, which could enhance their risk of passing away, according to their theory.

"Despite the fact that both men and women are exposed to the current, fentanyl-contaminated drug supply, something is making men substantially more likely to pass away than women. According to study co-author Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, "it may be that men use drugs more frequently or in higher doses, which could increase their risk of death, or there may be protective factors among women that reduce their risk of death compared to men. "It is essential to develop specialized tools to protect people from fatal overdose and other harms of drug use in order to understand the biological, behavioral, and social factors that impact drug use and our bodies' responses."

Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was used by the researchers.

The researchers used state-level data from the National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) performed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to account for the variations in drug misuse rates between men and women. They were able to estimate and account for rates of drug abuse among men and women separately thanks to this data.

The researchers intended to ascertain whether the higher rates of overdose deaths among men continued even after taking into account variations in drug abuse rates by examining the data from these two sources. Additionally, they looked into if there were any variations in the sex disparities in overdose mortality amongst substances, states, and age groups.

In contrast to women, men substantially more frequently die from opiate and psychostimulant overdoses, according to the research. Men were found to have a considerably greater rate of overdose mortality from synthetic opioids (such fentanyl) than women (29.0 deaths per 100,000 men versus 11.1 deaths per 100,000 women). The similar trend was discovered for cocaine, psychostimulants, and heroin (5.5 fatalities per 100,000 people for men against 2.0 for women), as well as heroin (10.6 deaths per 100,000 people for men versus 4.2 for women).

Importantly, even after accounting for other demographic characteristics, the greater overdose fatality rate in men was continuously seen across different age categories (15-74 overall) and across states. This demonstrates the strength.

The magnitude of the overdose mortality difference between men and women was significantly bigger than the difference in reported drug misuse, despite the fact that it is well known that males report using drugs more frequently than women. For instance, men died from cocaine overdoses at a rate 2.8 times higher than women did, whereas men misused cocaine at a rate just 1.9 times higher than women. This shows that the increased mortality risk for men is strongly influenced by factors other than drug use habits.

The differences in overdose mortality between the sexes, according to the researchers' hypothesis, may be due to a mix of biological, behavioral, and societal variables. Men may be more susceptible than women to the harmful effects of medicines on a biological level. It would be necessary for this susceptibility to be shared by several medication classes with various pharmacodynamic targets and pathophysiological mechanisms. Therefore, more investigation is required to identify the precise molecular mechanisms causing the sex disparities.

Men may take drugs in riskier ways than women do, such as injecting alone, taking big amounts, or buying from unreliable sources. Behavioral issues may also be at play. Additionally, gender and cultural differences may affect a person's predisposition for risky conduct, which could also contribute to the mortality from overdose differences.

According to the study, men experience overdose deaths from opioids (like fentanyl and heroin) and psychostimulants (like methamphetamine and cocaine) at considerably higher rates than women do. Beyond the disparities in drug usage rates between men and women, this finding is significant. Given the size of the overdose fatality gap, it is likely that biological, behavioral, and societal factors also have a role in men's elevated mortality risk.

But the study has significant limitations, just like all other types of research. The researchers acknowledge that population-based surveys may overestimate overall illegal drug usage and that there is a limited amount of state- and sex-level data on drug misuse available after 2019. Additionally, they admit that reporting biases might have an impact on the observed sex disparities in overdose death or drug abuse.

The results, according to the researchers, highlight the value of future study into the underlying mechanisms and therapies for overdose outcomes in both males and girls. They also emphasize the necessity of looking into sex differences at various biological and behavioral levels in order to create efficient prevention and intervention strategies for lowering the risk of overdose mortality at various stage

The lead author of the study and assistant professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Eduardo R. Butelman Ph.D., noted that the findings "emphasize the importance of looking at the differences between men and women in a multilayered way." Going forward, it will be crucial for researchers to keep looking at how genetics, societal factors, and behaviors combine with sex and gender factors to affect the abuse of addictive drugs and overdose mortality. Authors of the study include Eduardo R. Butelman, Yuefeng Huang, David H. Epstein, Yavin Shaham, Rita Z. Goldstein, Nora D. Volkow, and Nelly Alia-Klein. The paper's title is "Overdose mortality rates for opioids and stimulant drugs are substantially higher in men than in women: state-level analysis."

Psy Post