No More Silence: The Opioid Epidemic’s Alarming Impact on Women

More middle-aged women are dying from opioid overdoses, with a 260% increase in fatalities, according to research by Pathways Recovery Center. This research highlights the rising impact of opioid overdoses on middle-aged women, revealing a concerning link between the lack of targeted addiction treatment and increasing mortality rates in this group.

For many women, the opioid crisis is more than a statistic—it’s a devastating reality. Opioid addiction and its effects have grown shockingly fast during the last twenty years. Between 1999 and 2017, fatal overdoses among women aged 30 to 64 surged by 260%, with opioids playing a major role.(1) Women also have special vulnerabilities, being over twice as likely as men to develop major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which places them at higher risk for substance abuse and co-occurring disorders.(2)

The crisis has impacted women and their children. Prenatal opioid use increased significantly between 2000 and 2009, rising from 1.19 to 5.63 per 1,000 hospital births.(3) Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) has increased as a result; between 2009 and 2012, the number of cases increased from 3.4 to 5.8 per 1,000 newborns. More than 20,000 infants with withdrawal symptoms were born in 2012 alone.(8) Preventing opioid misuse before it starts is crucial, especially among women of childbearing age. Strategies such as prescription drug monitoring programs, safe prescribing guidelines, and education about the risks of opioids can reduce initial exposure.

Women’s heroin use doubled from 2002 to 2013, and it increased twice as quickly as it did for men.(3)The impact on mental health has been devastating—over 400,000 suicide attempts were driven by drug use, and more than 21,000 were completed. Most alarming is the fact that women make up 54% of opioid-related suicides, resulting in death from overdose.

Benzodiazepine abuse is also a growing problem, especially in women who have opioid use disorder.(4 )Between 2000 and 2015, opioids were the most common cause of overdose death for White and Hispanic women.(5) Even with these grim statistics, there are substantial gaps in mental health treatment, pain management, and perinatal addiction services. These gaps must be filled to avoid further tragedy and to provide women with the opioid addiction treatment and help they so desperately require.

While prescription opioids were once the primary driver of the opioid epidemic, recent years have witnessed a dramatic surge in overdose deaths linked to illicit synthetic opioids, most notably fentanyl and its analogs. These substances are significantly more potent and unpredictable, drastically increasing the risk of fatal overdose.

Women, in particular, face heightened danger, as they are often unaware of the presence of fentanyl in counterfeit or street drugs. Alarming projections suggest that by 2025, illicit opioids could be responsible for up to 80% of all opioid-related deaths.(6) This shift not only intensifies the crisis but also complicates treatment and prevention efforts, as strategies effective for prescription opioid misuse may fall short when addressing the unique challenges posed by illicit synthetics. Urgent action is needed, including targeted harm reduction measures and enhanced drug surveillance, to confront this rapidly evolving threat.(7)

“Women battling opioid addiction aren’t just fighting substance use—they’re also facing systemic barriers that make recovery even harder,” says Raul Haro, Nursing Supervisor at Pathways Recovery Center. “Without gender-specific treatment and support, we risk losing more lives to this crisis.”

“The opioid pandemic particularly impacts women because of a complex interaction of biological, psychological, and social aspects. They are more likely to have co-occurring mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD, often stemming from higher rates of childhood trauma. Childhood trauma significantly increases a woman’s susceptibility to opioid addiction by disrupting emotional regulation, leading to self-medication and potentially influencing prescription patterns. Successful treatment is impeded by obstacles such as childcare, stigma, and fear of losing custody, underscoring the importance of gender-responsive treatment models and integrated care systems that treat addiction and trauma together.”

These considerations highlight the urgent need for gender-specific treatment approaches that address the unique psychological and social barriers women face in recovery. The research stresses the importance of policies and programs designed to support women struggling with addiction, ensuring they receive the specialized care and protection they need.

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About the Author: Raul Haro is the Nursing Supervisor at Pathways Recovery Center in Azusa, California. With expertise in drug and alcohol counseling and trauma-focused therapies like CBT and EMDR, he is dedicated to helping individuals overcome addiction. Currently pursuing his Nurse Practitioner credentials, Raul continues expanding his addiction recovery knowledge to provide more specialized care.

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Photo by Rosa García: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-by-the-window-8202857/

The opinions and views expressed in any guest blog post do not necessarily reflect those of www.rtor.org or its sponsor, Laurel House, Inc. The author and www.rtor.org have no affiliations with any products or services mentioned in the article or linked to therein. Guest Authors may have affiliations to products mentioned or linked to in their author bios.