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Drug-related deaths in Scotland in 2009
1 Introduction
1.1 This is the latest edition of an annual paper which provides
statistics of drug-related deaths which were registered in Scotland
over the period from 1996 to 2009. The figures were produced using
a definition of "drug-related deaths" which was introduced in 2001
for the "baseline" figures for the UK Drugs Strategy. This
definition was agreed by a working party set up following the
publication, by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, of a
report on "Reducing drug related deaths". The Office for National
Statistics has also prepared data on drug-related deaths in England
and Wales using this definition. This paper's statistics of drug-
related deaths are used in the development of policy by the
Scottish Government, to inform the discussions and recommendations
of its National Forum on Drug- related Deaths, and by a number of
other interested parties such as NHS Boards and local Alcohol and
Drug Partnerships.
1.2 Section 2 gives some background on the collection of
information on drug-related deaths in Scotland. Section 3 describes the figures for Scotland, Section 4 covers the statistics for Health Board areas
and Section 5 refers to the figures for Council areas and
the potential problems that may affect the figures for these and
smaller areas. Annex
A sets out the definition of
drug-related deaths used in this paper; Annex B refers to, and gives figures for, some other
definitions of drug-related deaths; Annex C provides some
References; and Annex
D contains the questionnaire used to
collect further information about drug-related deaths with effect
from 2008. Then follow the tables and charts, which can be broadly
grouped thus:
In the tables, ".." indicates ‘not available’ or
‘not applicable’. There may be slight discrepancies
between some of the figures in different tables for some of the
years from 2000 to 2006, due to the use of a new database (see
paragraph A4 of Annex A).
1.3 The main change made in this edition is the result of
discussions at meetings of the National Forum on Drug-related
Deaths. The standard basis of the figures for individual drugs that
GROS produces for 2008 and subsequent years is now "drugs which
were implicated in, or which potentially contributed to, the cause
of death". Section 2 includes an explanation of why there has been
a change from the basis which was used in the previous edition
("all drugs which were found present in the body"). The following
tables are affected:
- Table 3 - Drug-related deaths by selected drugs reported,
Scotland;
- Table HB3 - Drug-related deaths by selected drugs reported
and NHS Board area;
- Table C3 - Drug-related deaths by selected drugs reported
and Council area;
- Table Y - Drug-related deaths, on the basis of the Office
for National Statistics (ONS) "wide" definition, by selected drugs
reported.
A new Table 6 allows users of the statistics to compare the
figures for 2009 on the two bases, and also shows how the numbers
on the two bases for 2009 break down by sex and by age-group. In
addition, alternative versions of Tables HB3 and C3 are now available on the GROS web site
(they can be found via links from the pages which give access to
the editions of this publication for 2008 and 2009), providing
figures for Health Boards and Councils:
- for 2008 on the new standard basis ("drugs which were
implicated in, or which potentially contributed to, the cause of
death"); and
- for 2009 on the basis which was used in the previous edition of
the publication ("all drugs which were found present in the
body").
1.4 Other improvements which have been made for this edition
are:
- a new Table 7 shows the numbers of deaths for which (a)
only one drug (plus, possibly, alcohol) was mentioned, and (b) only
one drug (plus, possibly, alcohol) was implicated in, or
potentially contributed, to the cause of death (other drugs may
have been present, but were not considered to have had any direct
contribution to the death);
- a new Table 8 gives the drug-related death rate, per 1,000
population, for each age- group, for Scotland (for each year from
2000) and for individual Health Boards (using the annual average
for the latest five years);
- a new Table Y shows how the numbers of drug-related deaths
on the "wide" definition relate to the Drug Strategy "baseline"
definition, and gives figures for deaths from some causes which may
be associated with present or past drug misuse, and Annex B has been expanded to provide some information on
these matters;
- in all tables which had the "45 and over" age-group, there are
now separate age- groups for "45-54" and "55 and over";
- Section
5 provides more information about the problems that may
affect the figures for areas with smaller populations; and
- the way in which the information about drug-related deaths is
processed has been refined, to take account of any changes in the
classification of substances under the Misuse of Drugs Act -
further information about this is given in paragraph A2 of Annex
A.
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