Trends and patterns of drug-caused mortality in Australia and Western Australia

Abstract

ObjectiveTo estimate the number of drug-caused deaths and compare patterns and trends of drug-caused mortality in Western Australia (WA) and Australia. MethodAetiologic fractions were applied to mortality data for WA (1985-96) and Australia (1991-96) to estimate the number of deaths due to alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. ResultsAge-standardised rates (ASR) for smoking and alcohol-caused deaths fell significantly, while the ASR for deaths caused by other drugs increased significantly. About 85% of drug-caused deaths occurred among people aged 50 years and above. Tobacco-caused deaths mainly occurred among the elderly. Alcohol-caused death rates showed a minor peak in those aged 20-24 years then, from middle age, began to rise steadily, peaking in the oldest age group. However, deaths due to other drugs occurred mainly among young people, particularly those aged 25-34 years. These age differences were reflected in the person years of life lost (PYLL). People who died from other drugs lost, on average, about 31 years of life, twice as many as people who died from alcohol-caused conditions and about six times the average number of PYLL per tobacco-caused death. ConclusionsNearly a fifth of all deaths were due to drugs and 80% of drug-caused deaths were due to tobacco smoking. The patterns and trends of drug-caused mortality in WA were similar to those Australia wide. ImplicationsStrategies highlighting the negative impact of tobacco and alcohol on health need to be maintained as well as programs which target illicit drug use.