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:

Tables 1 to 7, Figure 1 - statistics for Scotland;
Table 8 - age-specific death rates for Scotland and NHS Board areas;
Tables HB1 to HB3 - statistics for NHS Board areas;
Tables C1 to C3 - statistics for Council areas;
Tables X, Y and Z, Figure 2 - statistics which are not on the standard basis.

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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