Drug-related losses of the working-age population of Moscow: official levels and real scale

Abstract

Introduction. Drugs and the resulting health loss are a global problem. At the same time, residents of megalopolises, mainly of working age, fall into the risk group. The purpose is to assess the scale of losses of the working-age population of Moscow due to drug use. Materials and methods. The data of Rosstat on mortality of the population were used. We have calculated standardized mortality rates by causes of death in the selected age groups. We used a direct method of standardization, the European standard for age structure. To characterize the social status of the deceased, we used the data of the RFS-UMIAS of Moscow (the period of data analysis is July-December 2018 − January-June 2019). Results. We analyzed the dynamics of mortality among the working-age population of Moscow from the main causes of drug etiology (accidental drug poisoning and drug poisoning with unspecified intentions, mental disorders caused by drug use) against the background of Russia in the 2010s. It is shown that the dynamics of mortality from these causes was characterized by a sharp change in trends during 2015−2016. There was a sharp increase in mortality in the capital during the same period from cardiovascular diseases, due to unspecified cardiomyopathy. We pointed out that these shifts are synchronous with the dynamics of mortality from symptoms, signs, and ill-defined conditions. Discussion. It is hypothesized that, with a high degree of probability, the abnormal increase in mortality from unspecified cardiomyopathy is a statistical artifact - a consequence of the transfer of drug-related deaths to a latent form. Conclusions. Masking losses from drug addiction in ill-defined conditions and unspecified cardiomyopathy leads to the fact that mortality from drug poisoning in Moscow is not assessed as a serious problem.