Re: Crack Cocaine Related Deaths In 2013
Siri Vonbank
The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.
Methods: We used data on drug overdose deaths in the United States from 2000 to 2015 collected in the National Vital Statistics System to calculate annual rates and numbers of cocaine-related overdose deaths overall and deaths both involving and not involving opioids. We assessed statistically significant changes in trends with joinpoint regression.
Conclusions: Opioids, primarily heroin and synthetic opioids, have been driving the recent increase in cocaine-related overdose deaths. This corresponds to the growing supply and use of heroin and illicitly manufactured fentanyl in the United States.
Aims: With an estimated 12 million consumers in Europe, cocaine (COC) is the illicit drug leading to the most emergency department visits. The aim of this study was to examine a consecutive series of sudden deaths (SDs) to focus on the prevalence, the toxicological characteristics, and the causes of death in COC-related fatalities.
Conclusion: Systematic toxicology investigation indicates that 3.1% of SDs are COC-related and are mainly due to cardio-cerebrovascular causes. Left ventricular hypertrophy, small vessel disease, and premature coronary artery atherosclerosis, with or without lumen thrombosis, are frequent findings that may account for myocardial ischaemia at risk of cardiac arrest in COC addicts.
Objective: --To assess the validity of cocaine-related mortality data available from the principal federal sources of information about the frequency of drug abuse deaths in the United States: the national vital statistics system and the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN).
Design, setting, and participants: --We compared the number of cocaine-related deaths reported to national vital statistics and DAWN from 25 metropolitan areas during the years 1983 through 1988. We also compared cocaine-related mortality data reported to national vital statistics with data from all published forensic case series of cocaine-related deaths that occurred during the mid-1980s.
Results: --During the 6-year study period, 75% more cocaine-related deaths were reported to DAWN (6057) than to national vital statistics (3466) from the 25 metropolitan areas that were studied. For individual metropolitan areas, the discrepancy between DAWN and vital statistics counts of cocaine-related deaths was as large as a sixfold difference. In six of the seven forensic case series identified in our literature search, the number of cocaine-related deaths exceeded the number of these deaths reported to vital statistics. The largest discrepancy was for cocaine-related deaths in New York, NY, during a 10-month period in 1986 for which 151 deaths were reported in a case series and seven deaths were reported to vital statistics.
Conclusion: --Improvements in existing public health surveillance systems are needed for (1) full and accurate measurements of the lethal impact of drug abuse epidemics and (2) valid and comprehensive assessments of the effectiveness of national programs designed to prevent drug-related morbidity and mortality.
U.S. deaths from overdoses of cocaine totaled 14,666 in 2018, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rate of overdose deaths remained stable from 2009 through 2013, the report found, but then headed upward at about 27 percent each year from 2013 through 2018. Approximately 80% of overdose deaths involved opioids, and three of four opioid overdose deaths involved illicitly manufactured fentanyls (IMFs). The supply of fentanyl and overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids are projected to have increased for the seventh straight year in 2019. Fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, or methamphetamine (alone or in combination) were involved in nearly 85% of overdose deaths. The CDC report suggests the combination of drugs complicates intervention and treatment efforts; one-half of these deaths involved two or more of these four drugs.
The CDC report says that the rate of overdose deaths from cocaine was higher among men than women and more common among middle-aged people (35 to 44 years old), those living in urban rather than rural areas, and people residing in the Northeast region. In addition, the rate of overdose deaths attributed to cocaine laced with a synthetic opioid such as fentanyl increased faster in recent years than did overdose deaths from purely cocaine.
The CDC research indicates that more than three in five overdose deaths (62.7%) had evidence of at least one potential opportunity for intervention. Approximately one in ten opioid overdose deaths had evidence of past-month institutional release (10.7% with stimulants; 10.8% without stimulants) or previous overdose (10.9%; 12.1%). Mental health diagnoses were documented for one quarter (25.8%) of overdose deaths. Evidence of current or past substance use disorder treatment was more common among opioid overdose deaths (18.6% with stimulants; 19.1% without stimulants) than nonopioid overdose deaths (
A 2018 report by the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) examined the impact of increased opioid use on foster care. Substance Use, the Opioid Epidemic, and the Child Welfare System: Key Findings from a Mixed Methods Study found a 10 percent increase in overdose death rates corresponded to a 4.4 percent increase in the foster care entry rate and a ten percent increase in the hospitalization rate due to drug use corresponded to a 3.3 percent increase in the foster care entry rate. At the time, the report indicated that more research was needed to understand better how economic opportunity and substance use interact at the community level, but they also conclude that action to address the risks and consequences of the opioid epidemic in communities simultaneously facing economic challenges need not wait. This new CDC research was based on data before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
There were 884 cocaine-related deaths in Australia between 2000 and 2021 according to a new study published by researchers at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), UNSW Sydney.
The study, published in Addiction, examined data from the National Coronial Information System (NCIS) and found a large increase in cocaine-related deaths since 2012, with 398 known deaths in the last five years.
UNSW is located on the unceded territory of the Bidjigal (Kensington campus), Gadigal (City and Paddington Campuses) and Ngunnawal peoples (UNSW Canberra) who are the Traditional Owners of the lands where each campus of UNSW is situated.
The North East continues to have the highest rate of deaths relating to drug poisoning and drug misuse (163.4 deaths per million people and 104.1 per million, respectively); London had the lowest rate for drug poisonings (47.6 deaths per million people), and the East of England had the lowest rate for drug misuse (27.4 per million).
The government has set a target, as part of the 10-year drugs plan for England, to have "prevented nearly 1,000 deaths, reversing the upward trend in drug deaths for the first time in a decade" by the end of 2024 to 2025.
Deaths classified as drug misuse must meet either one (or both) of the following conditions: the underlying cause is drug abuse or drug dependence, or any of the substances involved are controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Information on the specific drugs involved in a death is not always available, therefore figures on drug misuse are underestimates.
In 2021, the highest rate of drug misuse deaths was found in those aged 45 to 49 years, closely followed by those aged 40 to 44 years. They are part of the age cohort often referred to as "Generation X"', born between the late sixties and early eighties, who have consistently had the highest rates of drug misuse deaths for the past 25 years.
In 2021, the highest rate of drug misuse deaths was observed in the North East (104.1 deaths per million; 255 registered deaths), while the lowest rate was in the East of England (27.4 deaths per million; 166 deaths). The North East has had the highest rate of drug misuse deaths for the past nine years and has a statistically significantly higher rate than all other regions of England.
In Wales, the rate of drug misuse deaths rose to 72.4 deaths per million from 51.1 deaths per million in 2020, returning to the high point recorded in 2018 (72.0 deaths per million). However, it is worth noting that delays in death registrations, which increased during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, are likely to have affected the figures for Wales (see Section 6).
!The Office for National Statistics (ONS) does not have access to post-mortem reports or toxicology results, so the accuracy of figures depends on the information provided by the coroner on the death certificate; because of incomplete information, figures for drug misuse and for specific substances are underestimates.
Most deaths related to drug poisoning in England and Wales are certified by coroners. The length of time it takes to hold an inquest results in a delay between the date a death occurred and the date of registration. This means that around half of the deaths reported in this bulletin will have occurred in the previous year.
Drug-related deaths have been on an upward trend for the past decade. The reasons behind this are complex and differ by drug type. The overall trend is driven primarily by deaths involving opiates but also by an increase in deaths involving other substances like cocaine.
7fc3f7cf58