Effect of ageing and time since first heroin and cocaine use on mortality from external and natural causes in a Spanish cohort of drug users

Heroin and cocaine use disorders are chronic and relapsing diseases, which can seriously affect drug users' health for many years. In a recent meta-analysis the pooled mortality risk compared to the general population (GP) was 15 and 4 –8 times higher among heroin users and cocaine users, respectively (Degenhardt, Bucello et al., 2011; Degenhardt, Singleton et al., 2011). However, the mortality risk also depends greatly on other cohort characteristics, especially drug-injecting prevalence or time in opioid substitution treatment (OST).

Source: International Journal of Drug Policy - December 18, 2017 Category: Addiction Authors: Gemma Molist, M. Teresa Brugal, Gregorio Barrio, Beatriz Mes ías, Marina Bosque-Prous, Oleguer Parés-Badell, Luis de la Fuente, Spanish Working Group for the Study of Mortality among Drug Users Tags: Research paper Source Type: research