Drug poisoning deaths
Male deaths increased in 2008
Deaths related to drug poisoning, England and Wales, 1993-2008
The number of male drug poisoning related deaths in 2008, including those involving both legal and illegal drugs, was 2,075. This was an increase of 8 per cent compared with 2007 and the highest number since 2001.
The number of female deaths rose to 853 in 2008, an increase of 17 per cent compared with 2007, after falling for the previous three years.
There were 897 deaths involving heroin or morphine in 2008. This is an 8 per cent rise compared to 2007 and the highest number recorded since 2001. The number of deaths involving methadone also increased from 325 in 2007 to 378 in 2008, a rise of 16 per cent. This is the highest number of deaths involving methadone since 1998, when 398 deaths were recorded. Deaths involving cocaine rose to 235 in 2008, continuing a long-term upward trend since 1993.
Deaths mentioning paracetamol and its compounds increased slightly in 2008 to 260 from the lowest recorded number in 2007 (242 deaths), following a long-term downward trend since 1997. The biggest impact on this decline was from deaths involving co-proxamol (paracetamol and dextropropoxyphene formulation) where the number decreased by one third between 2007 and 2008, from 72 to 48 deaths.
The total number of deaths related to drug poisoning in England and Wales increased each year from 1993 to a peak in 1999, and then began to decline. The number fell to 2,570 in 2006, the lowest recorded number since 1995, but has since increased again.
This trend is mostly accounted for by the changes in drug-related deaths among males, which accounted for 71 per cent of drug poisoning deaths in 2008. From 1997 onwards there has been over twice as many deaths in males than in females.
All drug-related deaths are assigned an underlying cause of death reflecting the verdict of the coroner and the wording on the coroner’s certificate. Among males across the period 1993-2008, broadly similar proportions of deaths were due to ‘mental and behavioural disorders due to drug use’ (31 per cent), ‘accidental poisoning by drugs’ (32 per cent) and ‘intentional self-poisonings and poisonings of undetermined intent’ (37 per cent).
Among females across the same period, the majority of drug-related deaths were ‘intentional self-poisonings and poisonings of undetermined intent’ (62 per cent), with ‘accidental poisoning by drugs’ accounting for 26 per cent of deaths and ‘mental and behavioural disorders due to drug use’ for the remaining 12 per cent.
Notes: More detailed information on deaths related to drug poisoning in England and Wales can be found in Health Statistics Quarterly 43, published 26 August 2009.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) database of deaths from drug related poisoning contains information on deaths from 1993.
Provisional figures for 2008 death registrations were published on 21 May 2009. Deaths related to drug poisoning for 2008 have therefore been marked as provisional to allow further quality assurance before the release of final figures in the next annual report. The quality of the provisional figures is comparable with final death registration figures released in previous years.
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Deaths related to drug poisoning, England and Wales