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Drug-related deaths in Scotland in 2010

Main Points

The key points in this publication are:

• On the basis of the definition used for these statistics, there were 485 drug-related deaths registered in Scotland in 2010, 60 (11 per cent) fewer than in 2009. However, this was the third-highest number ever recorded, 30 (7 per cent) more than in 2007 and 193 (66 per cent) more than in 2000. The number of drug-related deaths has risen in six of the past ten years.
• Males accounted for 75 per cent of the drug-related deaths in 2010.
• In 2010, there were 161 drug-related deaths of people aged 25-34 (representing 33 per cent of all drug-related deaths) and 158 drug-related deaths of 35-44 year olds (also 33 per cent). In addition, 65 people aged under 25 died (13 per cent), as did 76 45-54 year olds (16 per cent) and 25 people aged 55 and over (5 per cent).
• The NHS Board areas which accounted for most of the 485 drug-related deaths in 2010 were:
  • Greater Glasgow & Clyde - 167 (34 per cent);
  • Lothian - 73 (15 per cent); and
  • Lanarkshire - 53 (11 per cent).
• Using the annual average for 2006-2010, to reduce the effect on the figures of year-to-year fluctuations.
  • For Scotland as a whole, the average of 496 drug-related deaths per year represented a death rate of 0.10 per 1,000 population.
  • Only one NHS Board area had a higher rate: Greater Glasgow & Clyde (0.15).
  • The next highest rate was for Tayside (0.10).
  • Two areas had rates of 0.09, and three had rates of 0.08.
• Comparing the annual average for 2006-2010 with that for 1996-2000:
  • the percentage increases in the number of drug-related deaths were about the same for males (90 per cent) and females (94 per cent);
  • the percentage increases for 35-44 year olds and people aged 45-54 were larger than for 25-34 year olds and people aged 55 and over, and there was a fall in the number of 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 64), Lanarkshire (up by 27), Lothian (up by 26) and Ayrshire & Arran (up by 24).
• 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 485 drug-related deaths in 2010:
  • heroin and/or morphine were implicated in, or potentially contributed to, the cause of 254 deaths (52 per cent of the total);
  • methadone was implicated in, or potentially contributed to, 174 deaths (36 per cent);
  • benzodiazepines (e.g. diazepam) were implicated in, or potentially contributed to, 122 deaths (25 per cent);
  • cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamines were implicated in, or potentially contributed to, 33, 0 and 3 deaths respectively; and
  • alcohol was implicated in, or potentially contributed to, 127 deaths.
• In 2010, heroin/morphine, benzodiazepines and alcohol were implicated in, or potentially contributed to, markedly fewer deaths than in 2008 and 2009. However, for methadone and cocaine there were only slight differences in the numbers for those three years. Because of a change in the method used to collect information about the substances which were found in the body (section 2), 'individual drugs' figures for 2008 onwards cannot be produced on the same basis as those for earlier years.
• Most drug-related deaths were of people who took more than one drug. There were relatively few deaths for which only one drug (and, perhaps, alcohol) was found present in the body, including 30 for which only heroin/morphine (and, perhaps, alcohol) was reported, and 20 for which only methadone (and, perhaps, alcohol) was mentioned. There were more deaths for which only one drug (and, perhaps, alcohol) was implicated in, or potentially contributed to, the cause (whether or not anything else was present), including 123 cases where that drug was heroin/morphine and 69 where it was methadone.

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