Research for the study was done in Canada.
By Raif Karerat
Painkillers may serve as the catalyst for drug addiction in most women who become afflicted, a new study has warned.
A team of doctors and researchers studied the data of more than 500 patients throughout the methadone clinics of Ontario, Canada and found that 52 percent of the women said that prescription painkillers like codeine were their gateway for opioid drugs.
“It may be that they are prescribed painkillers more often because of a lower pain threshold or because they are more likely to seek medical care than men,” said study senior author Zena Samaan, associate professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada according to media reports.
Samaan and her team also found that compared to results from studies conducted in the 1990s, there has been a 30 percent increase in the number of patients becoming addicted to opioids through doctor-prescribed painkillers — usually for chronic pain management.
A separate 2009 Ontario study revealed 56.1 per cent of fatal opioid overdose victims had filled a prescription for opioids in the month preceding their death while 66.4 percent had seen a physician in the month leading up to, reported the Hamilton Spectator.
“For whatever reason, this is a growing problem in Canada and in other countries, such as the U.S., and addiction treatment programs need to adapt to the changing profile of opioid addiction,” Samaan noted.
The study were published in Biology of Sex Difference, a scientific journal.