Drug Overdose Deaths Among Middle-Aged Women Soar

Drug overdose deaths among women ages 30 to 64 more than tripled between 1999 and 2017, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The rate increased from 6.7 deaths per 100,000 people (4,314 deaths total) to 24.3 per 100,000 (18,100 deaths), CBS News reports.

The report found large increases in deaths involving fentanyl, heroin and benzodiazepines.

“Substantial work has focused on informing women of childbearing age about the risk and benefit of the use of certain drugs, particularly for the risk posed by neonatal abstinence syndrome as a result of opioid use during pregnancy,” the researchers wrote. “The current analysis demonstrates the remaining need to consider middle-aged women who remain vulnerable to death by drug overdose.”