Naloxone prescriptions to youth up over 660%; still lagging far behind adults

Opioid overdose deaths have been increasing in the United States, up to more than 107,000 deaths in 2022, and this trend includes young people. In youth ages 14-18 years, opioid overdose rates more than doubled from 2019 to 2021.

A study in the October 2024 Pediatrics, “Naloxone Dispensing to Youth Ages 10–19: 2017–2022,” documents increasing numbers of prescriptions to young people for naloxone, which can reverse overdoses when given in time have surged in adolescents between 2017-2022.

However, prescriptions of this lifesaving drug to youth still lag far behind adults. Over the study period, there were 95.9 naloxone prescriptions dispensed among adults ages 20 and older for every one naloxone prescription dispensed to youth.

Researchers studied naloxone prescriptions IQVIA National Prescription Audit data, representing 93 percent of all prescriptions in the United States from 2017 to 2022, and found 59,077 prescriptions for naloxone were dispensed to youth aged 10-19 years. Dispensing rates increased 669 percent, from 6.6 to 50.9 prescriptions per 100,000 adolescents, with increases each year.

Pediatricians accounted for an increasing proportion of naloxone prescriptions dispensed, an increase of 991 percent.

Authors said that cost may be a barrier to improved naloxone access among youth. While most naloxone prescriptions dispensed had low or no cost to the consumer, 20 percent had out-of-pocket costs exceeding $25 and over six percent had out-of-pocket costs exceeding $75.

The lagging distribution of naloxone to children and teenagers may have an impact on overdose deaths. In a recent report of overdoses among adolescents in the US from 2019-2021, only 30 percent of deaths documented any naloxone administration from a bystander or a medical professional.

Study authors concluded that pediatricians and other youth-serving clinicians can play an important role in expanding access to naloxone, but more research and training for doctors, youth and caregivers is needed to ensure naloxone is available to all at-risk youth.

The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.

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