Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 26, 2025
Author Spotlight: An Efficient Methodology to Confidently Differentiate and Characterize Fentanyl Analogs
Published on: November 8, 2024
The Impact of Pediatric Opioid-Related Visits on U.S. Emergency Departments
Tiffany Champagne-Langabeer1, Marylou Cardenas-Turanzas1, Irma T Ugalde2
1Center for Health Systems Analytics, School of Biomedical Informatics, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston), Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Insights
Pediatric emergency departments saw nearly 60,000 opioid-related visits from 2014-2017, primarily overdoses in teens. This highlights an urgent need for pediatricians to address rising childhood substance use.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Emergency Medicine
- Public Health
- Substance Use Disorders
Background:
- Limited research exists on pediatric opioid use in emergency departments.
- Adult opioid research is extensive, but child-specific data is scarce.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the scope and characteristics of pediatric opioid encounters in U.S. emergency departments.
- To identify trends in pediatric opioid use disorder and overdose.
Main Methods:
- Utilized national data from the National Emergency Department Sample (NEDS) and CDC death records (2014-2017).
- Analyzed sociodemographic, financial, and diagnostic data for patients under 18 with opioid-related diagnoses.
Main Results:
- Nearly 60,000 pediatric emergency visits involved opioids, with overdoses (poisoning) accounting for 68.5%.
- Teens and infants represented the highest age groups affected; the Southern U.S. had the most visits.
- Opioid encounters cost over $157 million, with Medicaid covering 54% of charges.
Conclusions:
- Rising substance use necessitates increased pediatric emergency physician awareness and intervention.
- Pediatric emergency departments must be equipped to recognize, refer, and treat children with opioid use disorder.
Background:
While there is significant research exploring adults' use of opioids, there has been minimal focus on the opioid impact within emergency departments for the pediatric population.
Methods:
We examined data from the Agency for Healthcare Research, the National Emergency Department Sample (NEDS), and death data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sociodemographic and financial variables were analyzed for encounters during 2014-2017 for patients under age 18, matching diagnoses codes for opioid-related overdose or opioid use disorder.
Results:
During this period, 59,658 children presented to an ED for any diagnoses involving opioids. The majority (68.5%) of visits were related to overdoses (poisoning), with a mean age of 11.3 years and a majority female (53%). There was a curvilinear relationship between age and encounters, with teens representing the majority of visits, followed by infants. The highest volume was seen in the Southern U.S., with over 58% more opioid visits than the next highest region (Midwest). Charges exceeded USD 157 million, representing 2% of total ED costs, with Medicaid responsible for 54% of the total.
Conclusions:
With increases in substance use among children, there is a growing need for pediatric emergency physicians to recognize, refer, and initiate treatments.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
01:15Opioid Analgesics: Synthetic and Semisynthetic Opioids
01:20Opioid Analgesics: Morphine and Other Natural Cogeners
01:02Prescription, Nonprescription and Orphan Drugs
The misuse and addiction to prescription drugs is a growing problem that can affect people of all age groups, specifically teenagers. This can happen when prescription medications are used in ways not intended by the prescriber, such as taking someone else's prescription or using medication for...
01:25Analgesia and Pain Management
01:21Factors Affecting Drug Response: Overview
01:17Drugs Affecting GI Tract Motility: Opioids as Antidiarrheal Agents
Opioids, widely used antidiarrheal agents, mitigate diarrhea by slowing down...