Pain Management Expert, Dr. Paul Christo: Opioid Overdoses on the Rise During Covid-19 Pandemic
Industry: Healthcare
Another pandemic is killing thousands of Americans. Pain Management Expert Dr. Paul Christo is on the frontlines to stop it.
Baltimore, MD (PRUnderground) June 11th, 2020
Opioid related deaths in the United States have been on the rise since the COVID 19 pandemic began experts say and it’s only going to get worse according to their estimates. Authorities in across Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, and New York are also reporting rises in overdoses during the COVID-19 crisis.
Dr. Paul Christo, the Associate Professor in the Division of Pain Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, says “The number of fatalities from opioid-related overdoses could be nearly 30% higher than reported due to missing information or incomplete death records. The worst fear is that because of social isolation, and people are not being found or treated immediately.”
The opioid epidemic today progressed in three phases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The first involves deaths caused by prescription opioids, the second, an increase in heroin use, and the third, a surge in the use of synthetic opioids or fentanyl. Experts say the U.S. is right in the middle of the third phase of the epidemic, due to the increasing availability of fentanyl and increasing rates of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids.
According to a recent study there were 632,331 drug overdoses between 1999 and 2016. Most of these deaths, 78.2% were drug overdoses with known drug classification. Moreover, 21.8% were unclassified drug overdoses. A further investigation revealed that for unclassified drug overdoses, 71.8% involved opioids, translating to 99,160 additional opioid-related deaths.
There were over 70,000 drug overdose deaths in 2017, according to an estimate from the CDC. Based on findings from the new study, over half of those deaths — about 47,000 — are suspected of having involved opioids.
Another study on Opioid Overdose found that the number of drug overdose deaths decreased by 4% from 2017 to 2018. In 2018, more than 67,000 people died from drug overdoses, making it a leading cause of injury-related death in the United States. Almost 70% involved a prescription or illicit opioid of those deaths.
“COVID 19 impacted the drug supply chain by closing borders on some regions, and it led to the higher death rate. He added that drugs become more challenging to get, and the potency of overdose goes up. It also impacts the price, everything goes up, and in that sense, it becomes more deadly each day, according to Dr. Paul Christo.
About Dr. Paul Christo
Dr. Paul Christo serves as Director of the Multidisciplinary Pain Fellowship Program at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is the author of Aches and Gains, A Comprehensive Guide to Overcoming Your Pain. Dr. Paul Christo also hosts an award-winning, nationally syndicated SIRIUS XM radio talk show on overcoming pain called, Aches and Gains®. For more information about Dr. Paul Christo. Please visit www.paulchristomd.com
About Dr. Paul Christo
Dr. Paul Christo is one of the world’s leading pain specialists and author of Aches and Gains, A Comprehensive Guide to Overcoming Your Pain. He’s an Associate Professor in the Division of Pain Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He served as Director of the Multidisciplinary Pain Fellowship Program for 8 years, and the Blaustein Pain Treatment Center for 5 years at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. He hosts an award-winning, nationally syndicated SIRIUS XM radio talk show on overcoming pain called, Aches and Gains®. Naomi Judd, Joe Montana, and Maya Angelou have all been guests.His show has earned him the John and Emma Bonica Public Service Award from the American Pain Society, recognizing distinguished contributions to the field of pain medicine through public education, dissemination of information, and public service. Dr. Christo was selected as a Mayday Pain and Society Fellow, and named a “Hero” by The Pain Community, a patient advocacy association for his work on Aches and Gains. He was also honored by the American Society of Pain Educators as Pain Educator of the Year for his transformational work on public education through the media.
Dr. Christo is an invited lecturer both nationally and internationally, serves on 4 journal editorial boards, has published more than 100 articles and book chapters, co-edited 3 textbooks on pain, and actively teaches medical students, residents, and pain fellows. He’ a member of Men’s Health Magazine medical advisory board, serving as their first pain specialist. Dr. Christo has directed or coordinated many national conferences that focus on educating both specialists and generalists on important aspects of pain diagnosis and treatment.
He serves on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the American Academy of Integrative Pain Management, and has served on Advisory Boards for the American Academy of Pain Medicine, American Society of Anesthesiologists, The International Association for the Study of Pain, and the American Pain Society. He has also earned an MBA from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School in Health Care Management.
Find his book, Aches and Gains: A Comprehensive Guide to Overcoming Your Pain at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Curriculum Vitae
