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Personally prescribed psychoactive drugs in overdose deaths among drug abusers: A retrospective register study
Author(s) -
Rönkä Sanna,
Karjalainen Karoliina,
Vuori Erkki,
Mäkelä Pia
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
drug and alcohol review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.018
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1465-3362
pISSN - 0959-5236
DOI - 10.1111/dar.12182
Subject(s) - medicine , psychiatry , medical prescription , substance abuse , drug overdose , drug , receipt , unemployment , disability pension , poison control , emergency medicine , environmental health , population , pharmacology , economic growth , world wide web , computer science , economics
and Aims Psychoactive prescription drug ( PPD ) abuse‐related overdose deaths have increased in many countries in recent decades. We aimed to investigate the role of personally prescribed psychoactive drugs in abuse‐related overdose mortality and explore any associations with level of social disadvantage. Design and Methods This register linkage study included all 243 people who had died of abuse‐related drug‐induced poisoning in F inland in 2000 and 2008. Data on registered purchases of psychoactive drugs within one and three years of death were linked to data on the psychoactive drug/s contributing to death in each case. Social disadvantage was measured by receipt of income support, long‐term unemployment and disability pension. Results Thirty‐six percent of those abusers who had died of a drug overdose had purchased a similarly acting drug within three years of death. In all overdoses, the proportion increased from 20% in 2000 to 49% in 2008 ( P < 0.001). A similar increase was seen in purchases within one year of death; from one‐tenth in 2000 to one‐third of all cases in 2008 ( P < 0.001). The majority (83%) of the deceased had received income support, while only 13–14% were long‐term unemployed or on disability pension. Disability pension recipients had significantly more prescribed psychoactive drug purchases than non‐recipients ( P < 0.001 for three and one years within death). Discussion and Conclusions Personally prescribed PPDs pose a potential threat to people who abuse drugs. Health‐care services should invest greater effort in identifying people who abuse drugs and in monitoring their drug prescriptions. [Rönkä S, Karjalainen K, Vuori E, Mäkelä P. Personally prescribed psychoactive drugs in overdose deaths among drug abusers: A retrospective register study. Drug Alcohol Rev 2015;34:82–89]