Pharmaceutical abuse sent more than 350,000 people to the ER in 2016
People ages 15–34 made up nearly half of these emergency room visits
The misuse of prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications resulted in an estimated 358,000 trips to U.S. emergency departments in 2016 — and almost half of those cases involved young people ages 15 to 34, according to a new study based on a national public health surveillance system.
The analysis, reported online March 6 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, was based on data reported by a nationally representative sample of 56 hospitals from January 1 to December 31, 2016.