Opioids are worse for women
The opioid epidemic’s disproportionate impact on women is the latest and most destructive symptom of wider gender-based disparities that leave millions of American women in worse health than men.
Data show that deaths among women from opioid overdose have increased at a much faster rate than for men, 400 percent compared with 265 percent. And states where doctors write the most opioid prescriptions also have the widest disparities in men’s and women’s health.
Alabama has the worst ranking of gender-based health disparities. It is the nation’s biggest dispenser of opioids, with 125 prescriptions written for every 100 residents in 2015. In all, seven of the 10 worst states for gender disparities also show up in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s ranking of the 10 states that lead in opioid prescriptions.
The outsized impact of opioids on women signals a much larger problem of poorer health and poorer access to care that make women more susceptible to addiction.
And what affects women affects families. In most American homes, women are the primary caregivers, and their well-being usually determines the well-being and the future of our children. Evidence of this abounds in hospital neonatal units across the country, where the number of infants born with symptoms of opioid addiction increased five-fold from 2000 to 2012.
Some low-cost steps being taken to reduce the risk of opioid addiction suggest how to begin addressing gender-based health disparities.
Because of greater awareness of addiction risk, doctors are writing fewer opioid prescriptions. Although this decline has yet to catch up to the national rise in overdose deaths, there are signs we are moving in the right direction.
Education campaigns have also begun to change dosage standards, which are too high for most women because of their lower body weight and because they typically are prescribed opioids for longer periods of time than men.
Women in all states also experience a higher rate of mental health issues than men. More awareness would increase treatment strategies.
The best remedy is also the most difficult to achieve: We must improve the overall quality of health care in states where the disparities are greatest, which are also the places where health quality is poorest for both sexes. Success will demand the courage to buck a political trend favoring cuts in health-care insurance coverage, in programs like Medicaid and Medicare, and in supplemental nutrition for low-income individuals and families. Such courage is not a feature of American politics now.