LOS ANGELES, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Unintentional drug poisoning has become a major cause of deaths in the United States, only second to motor vehicle crashes, a report said.
Deaths by drug poisoning, primarily with prescription drugs, increased by 68 percent between 1999 and 2004 in the country, according to the report presented this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP).
The annual poisoning-death rate increased from 4.4 per 100,000 people in 1999 to 7.1 per 100,000 people in 2004, said the report.
Of all sex, racial and ethnic groups, the greatest increase was among non-Hispanic white females, while the age group most affected was persons aged 15 to 24 years, according to the report.
It listed psychotherapeutic drugs, narcotics and hallucinogens as the most responsible drugs for unintentional deaths.
"Effective response to increasing fatal drug overdoses requires strengthening regulatory measures to reduce unsafe use of drugs, increasing physician awareness regarding appropriate pharmacologic treatment of pain and psychiatric problems, supporting best practices for treating drug dependence, and potentially modifying prescription drugs to reduce their potential for abuse," the report said.
The report also urged state agencies to use prescription-monitoring programs to proactively identify patients who fill several prescriptions from different doctors, as well as physicians whose prescribing practices are outside the standards of appropriate medical care.
