Health Highlights: Oct. 29, 2009

Oct. 30 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

Methadone Overdose a Danger for Medicaid Patients

Medicaid patients may be at high risk for overdose death caused by the opioid painkiller methadone, according to a study released Thursday.

The researchers looked at Washington, where the 2006 rate of opioid painkiller overdoses was significantly higher than in the rest of the country. Between 2004 and 2007, 1,668 people in Washington died of prescription opioid-related overdoses. Of those, 58.9 percent were male, 34.4 percent were 45 to 54 years old, and 45.4 percent were Medicaid clients.

The study found that Medicaid clients had a 5.7-fold increased risk of dying from a prescription opioid-related overdose. Methadone was involved in nearly two-thirds of those Medicaid client deaths.

It may be possible to minimize the risk by examining patterns of opioid prescribing to Medicaid clients and intervening with those who appear to misuse the drugs, the researchers concluded.

The study appears in the latest Morbidity and Mortality Report, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Deaths involving prescription opioid painkillers are a major reason why the number of poisoning deaths in the United States nearly doubled from 1999 to 2006.

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Dental Costs Lowest in Georgia and Ohio

Dental care for people in Georgia and Ohio costs almost $150 less than the U.S. average of $607 a year, says a federal government study released Thursday.

The average annual expenditure for dental care in Georgia was $466, while in Ohio it was $474, said the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Among the other findings from the analysis of average annual dental expenditures in the 10 states with the highest populations in 2006:

• The highest proportion of residents with dental expenses (52.5 percent) was in Michigan and the lowest was in Texas (30 percent).
• The national average for out-of-pocket payment for dental care was 49 percent. People in Florida paid more (62.5 percent) and those in Pennsylvania paid less (42 percent).
• Nationally, private insurers paid 43 percent of all dental expenditures.