Mortality Due to Acute Adverse Drug Reactions: Opiates and Cocaine in Barcelona, 1989-93

• NCJ Number: 175152
• Journal: Addiction Volume: 91 Issue: 3 Dated: March 1996 Pages: 419-426
• Author(s): L Torralba; M T Brugal; J R Villalbi; M T Tortosa; A Toribio; J L Valverde
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 8 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This study analyzed deaths due to acute adverse drug reactions caused by opiates or cocaine in Barcelona (Spain) over a 5-year period, during which figures were stable.

Abstract

Annual mortality rates due to adverse drug reactions of city residents for the 1989-93 period were estimated to be 15.3 per 100,000 people in the 15- to 49-year-old age group. Mortality rates for men (25.0 percent) were consistently higher than mortality rates for women (5.8 percent). Mortality rates by age group showed different patterns by gender. Males in the 25- to 29-year-old group had the highest mortality rate (62.8 percent), almost doubling the rates for the 20- to 24-year-old age group (36.1 percent) and 30- to 34-year-old age group (33.3 percent). The highest differential in age-specific mortality by gender was seen in the 35- to 39-year- old age group, in which mortality rates for men (21.5 percent) were eight times higher than for women (2.6 per 100,000). The distribution by place of residence, stratifying data across city neighborhoods and municipal districts displayed wide differences between districts in the mean annual rates, ranking between 77.3 and 8.3 per 100,000, a nine-fold magnitude. Differences were even steeper when data were broken down by neighborhood. Although all areas with high adverse-drug-reactions mortality were areas of low socioeconomic status, a more complex association between deprivation and drug use must exist, since other areas with similarly low socioeconomic indicators did not suffer from such high mortality. A cross-tabulation of place of residence and district of death showed that most adverse-drug-reaction deaths occurred in the district of residence, but patterns related to districts that attracted drug-related deaths and districts that exported them may be observed. These results provide new insights into the epidemiology of substance abuse in Barcelona, where it follows patterns that may be similar to those of other major urban areas in Spain, as well as in other southern European countries. 4 tables and 21 references