In the United States, more than 320,000 children lost a parent to drug overdose between 2011 and 2021, according to a study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
No national study has previously examined the number of children affected by the overdose crisis, according to a press release announcing the findings. Study co-author Dr. Emily Einstein, head of NIDA’s Science Policy Branch, said the study was inspired by similar research during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the decade studied, 649,599 people aged 18 to 64 died of drug overdoses. Children are more likely to lose their father than their mother, the study found.
“What’s very important about this particular data set is that it paints a picture of people who use drugs as people who have full lives,” Einstein said. “I think very often we think of people who are addicted or who use drugs as their defining characteristic, especially when someone dies of an overdose… Almost half of those people who die have a child who lives in their home I think this gives us concrete data that allows us to begin to understand the complete picture of a person’s entire life and how we should approach all factors of their life, both on their own. dependence and then to alleviate the trauma experienced by the children left behind.
Although “the greatest number of children affected were those whose parents were non-Hispanic white,” the study found that children from “communities of color and tribal communities were disproportionately affected,” according to the release from press. Children whose parents are non-Hispanic American Indians or Alaska Natives have consistently lost a parent to overdose, with 187 out of every 100,000 children in this group affected. That’s more than double the rate among white and black children, who were affected at a rate of 76.5 per 100,000 children and 73 per 100,000 children, respectively, according to the study.
The rate of children whose parents died from drug overdoses “more than doubled” during the 10-year period studied, according to the press release. The increase was seen across all racial and ethnic populations, the study found, but children of young, non-Hispanic black parents experienced the largest increase in the loss rate each year, with an annual increase of about 24 percent. overdose deaths.
Einstein said the growing numbers showed the overdose crisis was an “emergency of the utmost importance.”
“It is important to keep in mind that children who live in households where their parents use drugs are very likely to have environmental risk factors and likely biological risk factors that may increase their own likelihood of using drugs. drugs,” Einstein said. “And then when you add to that this traumatic event of losing a parent to an overdose, it means that these children are just extraordinarily vulnerable.”
Susan Ousterman, a Pennsylvania woman who leads support groups for parents who have lost children to overdose, said she often sees grandparents raising their grandchildren while their parents struggle with drug addiction or die of an overdose. Ousterman said she hopes the study will emphasize the need to talk to children about substance use and addiction without stigmatizing people who use drugs.
“There’s just not enough support for kids,” she said.
The study called for a greater focus on comprehensive health care that addresses substance use disorders and prevention resources that can be used to support families. Einstein said children who lose parents to overdoses need to be able to access “the psychiatric support and care they need as they grow up.”
“It’s important for us to realize that substance use and addiction impacts entire family units,” Einstein said, noting that parents who use drugs may be more ashamed to reveal their substance use or abuse. seek treatment. “As we think about better ways to improve people’s receipt of care, we need to think about the whole family unit and everyone involved.”
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