According to the CDC, overdose deaths are rising fastest among U.S. middle-aged women – usually in the form of prescription painkillers.

For many decades, the overwhelming majority of U.S. overdose deaths were men killed by heroin or cocaine. But by 2010, 40% were women – most of them middle-aged women who took prescription painkillers.

Explosion in female overdose death rates are closely tied to a boom in the overall use of prescribed painkillers (…and pushed by Big Pharma). The new report is the CDC’s first to spotlight how the death trend has been more dramatic among women.

The CDC found a massive spike in female deaths between 1999 – 2010. Among men, such deaths rose about 3.5 times.

Overall, more men still die from overdoses of painkillers and other drugs; there were about 23,000 such deaths in 2010, compared with about 15,300 for women. Men tend to take more risks with drugs than women, and often are more prone to the kind of workplace injuries = thus the need for prescribed painkillers.

Studies suggest that women are more likely to have chronic pain, to be prescribed higher doses, and to use pain drugs longer than men. Some research suggests women may be more likely than men to “doctor shop” and get pain pills from several physicians (Can you say Axis II issues?).

But many doctors may not recognize these facts about women and may not be trained to assess for mental, emotional or psychological risk factors – highlighting the need for integration of medical and mental health treatment.

The report should be a wake-up call for doctors, who have traditionally thought of drug abuse as a men’s problem. That means doctors should consider the possibility of addiction in female patients, think of alternative treatments for chronic pain (ie. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Yoga, Mindfulness, Acupuncture), and consult state drug monitoring programs to find out if a patient has a worrisome history with painkillers. Yeah, but we all know that’s not going to happen. Doctors already ignore voluntary and mandatory state monitoring laws and they certainly are not educated on how to effectively refer clients for counseling and assessment.

Of special interest are opioids like Vicodin and OxyContin and their generic forms, methadone, and a powerful newer drug called Opana, or oxymorphone.

These are dangerous med and should be reserved for situations like severe pain. Interestingly, there has not been a comparable increase in documented pain conditions in the U.S. public that would explain the boom in painkiller prescriptions in the last 10 or 15 years.

The increase in prescriptions can be traced to pharmaceutical marketing campaigns. For every dollar pharmaceutical companies spend on “basic research,” $19 goes toward promotion and marketing. Yikes – we just don’t stand a chance when doctors and clients are targeted.

CDC researchers reviewed death certificates, which are sometimes incomplete. Specific drugs were not identified in every death. In others, a combination of drugs was involved, such as painkillers taken with tranquilizers. More than 70 percent of the overdose deaths were found to be unintentional.

One striking finding: The greatest increases in drug overdose deaths were in women ages 45 through 54, and 55 through 64. The rate for each of those groups more than tripled between 1999 and 2010.

In 2010, overdose deaths in those two groups of middle-aged women added up to about 7,400 _ or nearly half the female total, according to CDC statistics. It’s an age group in which more women are likely dealing with chronic pain and seeking help for it.

Many of these women probably were introduced to painkillers through a doctor’s prescriptions for real pain, such as persistent aches in the lower back or other parts of the body. Then some no doubt became addicted – surprise, surprise. Where was the referral for counseling?