In adults ages 55 and older, opioid overdose deaths rose tenfold between 1999 and 2019, surging from 0.9 deaths per 100,000 people to 10.7, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open that analyzed two decades of data.

In 2019, nearly 10,300 people ages 55 and older died from opioid overdoses, compared to just over 500 in 1999.

Yet in the near-decade she’s been involved in opioid overdose research, Mason says she’s “almost never” seen older adults’ drug use addressed in the media or in academic studies—which means that much less is known about overdoses in older Americans than in younger ones.

Older people are more likely than younger ones to suffer from chronic conditions and to be prescribed multiple medications, which can make an opioid prescription more likely; as patients get older, they are more likely to have an opioid prescription, according to data published in 2020 by the U.S.

Drug abuse is also on the rise among older people; emergency department visits for opioid misuse rose 220% between 2006 and 2014 in people ages 65 and older, according to a study published in the journal Innovation in Aging in 2019.

There’s some good news for older adults: evidence from alcohol use disorder suggests they may respond better than younger people to substance-use treatment, possibly because people might be more likely to have traits like “wisdom, complex decision-making skills, emotional regulation, and self-reflection,” the study authors note.