HealthDay (9/19, Mozes) says that two new government reports warn that opioid addiction is growing among America’s seniors. The reports by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality “reveal that millions of older Americans are now filling prescriptions for many different opioid medications at the same time, while hundreds of thousands are winding up in the hospital with opioid-related complications.” Dr. Arlene Bierman, director of AHRQ’s Center for Evidence and Practice, said the reports “underscore the growing and under-recognized concerns with opioid use disorder in older populations,” including those who suffer from chronic pain. Dr. Anita Everett, chief medical officer for the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, said that when common chronic pain is paired with “the generation of physicians that were taught that opioid medication, when used for pain, was not likely to become addictive,” the result is a senior citizen opioid problem.(SOURCE: APA Headlines)