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Drug-related deaths in Scotland in 2011
Main Points
The main findings from this report include the following:
- Based on the definition used for these statistics, 584 drug-related deaths were registered in Scotland in 2011, 99 (20 per cent) more than in 2010. This was the highest number ever recorded, and 252 (76 per cent) more than in 2001. The number of drug-related deaths has risen in six of the past ten years.
- Males accounted for 73 per cent of the drug-related deaths in 2011.
- In 2011, there were 212 drug-related deaths of people aged 35-44 (36 per cent of all drug-related deaths) and 184 drug-related deaths of 25-34 year olds (32 per cent).
- The NHS Board areas which accounted for most of the 584 drug-related deaths in 2011 were:
- Greater Glasgow & Clyde - 192 (33 per cent);
- Lothian - 73 (13 per cent); and
- Grampian - 58 (10 per cent).
Using the annual average for 2007-2011, to reduce the effect on the figures of year-to-year fluctuations:
- for Scotland as a whole, the average of 529 drug-related deaths per year represented a death rate of 0.10 per 1,000 population;
- the NHS Board area with the highest rate was Greater Glasgow & Clyde (0.15);
- the next highest rates were for Ayrshire & Arran (0.11) and Tayside (0.10); and
- four areas had rates of 0.09.
Comparing the annual average for 2007-2011 with that for 1997-2001:
- the percentage increase in the number of drug-related deaths was greater for females (117 per cent) than for males (85 per cent);
- the largest percentage increases were for 35-44 year olds and people aged 45-54, and there was a fall in drug-related deaths of people aged under 25; and
- the NHS Board areas with the largest increases in the numbers of drug-related deaths were Greater Glasgow & Clyde (up by 68), Lothian (up by 32) and Lanarkshire (up by 27).
The standard basis for the figures for individual drugs for 2008 and subsequent years is 'drugs which were implicated in, or which potentially contributed to, the cause of death'. Of the 584 drug-related deaths in 2011:
- heroin and/or morphine were implicated in, or potentially contributed to, the cause of 206 deaths (35 per cent of the total);
- methadone was implicated in, or potentially contributed to, 275 deaths (47 per cent);
- benzodiazepines (e.g. diazepam) were implicated in, or potentially contributed to, 185 deaths (32 per cent);
- cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamines were implicated in, or potentially contributed to, 36, 8 and 24 deaths respectively; and
- alcohol was implicated in, or potentially contributed to, 129 of the drug-related deaths.
(The percentages add up to more than 100 because more than one drug was implicated in, or contributed to, many of the deaths.)
In 2011, heroin and/or morphine were implicated in, or potentially contributed to, markedly fewer deaths than in 2008, 2009 and 2010. However, for methadone there was a large increase compared with the previous three years. There were also more deaths in which benzodiazepines were implicated or to which they potentially contributed. Because of a change in the method used to collect information about the substances that were found in the body (which is described in Section 2), 'individual drugs' figures for 2008 onwards cannot be produced on the same basis as those for earlier years.
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