Males Account For Nearly 80 Per Cent Of Drug Related Deaths, UK

Main Category: Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs
Article Date: 15 Aug 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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Nearly 80 per cent of people in England and Wales who died due to illicit drug use in 2006 were male, an NHS Information Centre bulletin shows.

And the number of male hospital admissions in England for drug related mental health and behavioural disorders was more than double the female number in 2006/7.

Figures from the bulletin; Statistics on drug misuse: England; 2008; also show more than twice the number of men compared to women accessed structured drug treatment in England in 2006/7.

In 2006/7, 13.2 per cent of men in England and Wales reported taking illicit drugs during the last year, compared to 6.9 per cent of women.

Key findings from the bulletin, a compendium of data on drug use from several different sources, show:

- There were 1,573 deaths related to drug misuse in England and Wales in 2006. Of these, 79 per cent were male.

- There were 4,715 male admissions and 2,019 female hospital admissions in England in 2006/7 where drug related mental and behavioural disorders was the primary diagnosis. During the same period, there were 5,491 male admissions and 4,554 female admissions where the primary diagnosis was poisoning by drugs.

- In 2006/7 a total of 140,077 men accessed structured drug treatment services in England, compared to 55,387 women.

Hospital admissions in England where the primary diagnosis was drug related mental or behavioural disorders have fallen, from 7,584 in 1996/97 to 6,743 in 2006/7.

However, hospital admissions in England where the primary diagnosis was poisoning due to drugs have increased, from 7,057 in 1996/97 to 10,047 in 2006/7. The number of people accessing structured drug treatment services has also risen, from 85,000 in 1998/99 to 195,464 in 2006/7.

NHS Information Centre Chief Executive Tim Straughan said: "This bulletin paints a picture of wide discrepancy between the number of men who take, are treated, or even die from drug use compared to the number of women.

"The fact more than 1,500 people died due to drug use in 2006 is extremely saddening in itself, but the fact so many of these deaths are male raises many questions about gender and drug misuse."

A full copy of the report is at: http://www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/drugmisuse08

The NHS Information Centre is England's authoritative, independent source of health and social care information. It works with more than 300 health and social care providers nationwide to provide the facts and figures that help the NHS and social services run effectively. Its role is to collect data, analyse it and convert it into useful information which helps providers improve their services and supports academics, researchers, regulators and policymakers in their work.

The NHS Information Centre also produces a wide range of statistical publications each year across a number of areas including: primary care, health and lifestyles, screening, hospital care, population and geography, social care and workforce and pay statistics.

The bulletin draws together data from a variety of different sources and presents it in a user-friendly format. Where possible information has been presented for England, however some sources present England and Wales information together Most of the data contained in the bulletin have been published previously, by The NHS Information Centre, Department of Health, the Home Office, Office for National Statistics, the Health Protection Agency or the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse. Previously unpublished figures on drug-related admissions to hospital are presented.

Regional data, to PCT level, is available for hospital admission information.

The NHS Information Centre