New research suggests that the increased availability of prescription opiates like hydrocodone, oxycodone and methadone is responsible for a surge in accidental overdose deaths and injuries among children under the age of 6, MSNBC reported Oct. 20.

The study reported that 9,179 toddlers and children were involved in incidents related to opiate access between January 2003 and June 2006, with exposure ranging from a pill taken from a child's mouth to actual ingestion. In these incidents, eight children died while 43 suffered life-threatening injuries or serious disabilities and 214 required prolonged medical attention. The medications involved belonged primarily to parents, grandparents and other adults.

Prescription drugs have become a primary cause of child poisonings, second only to carbon monoxide poisoning, said Richard Dart of the Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center, a co-author of the study. Dart said that the study likely underestimated the extent of the problem. "Conservatively, you can say the number is twice that high and probably higher than that," he said.

The skyrocketing availability of both legal and illegal prescription painkillers is fueling the trend. An estimated 119 million prescriptions were written for hydrocodone in the U.S. in 2007, for example, with another 38 million prescriptions for oxycodone.

Dart said about one-half of the opiate exposures occurred in "complicated" households, which he defined to include having many adults living together or members with a history of drug use or child neglect. The rest occurred in "competent" families, Dart said.

The study appeared in the September 2008 issue of the Annals of Emergency Medicine.