Tagcloud

abortion, abuse, acute care, addiction, administration, alcohol, alternative medicine, arthritis, autoimmune disorders, blood, breast cancer, Brendan Drumm, cancer, capacity, cardiovascular disease, CervicalCheck, charity, children, clinical directors, co-location, community care, competence assurance, Competition Authority, complaints, consultants, cosmetic surgery, costs, cross-border, cutbacks, cystic fibrosis, Department of Health, diabetes, disability, Down's syndrome, drugs, e-health, education, elderly, emergency medicine, epilepsy, equity, ESRI, EWTD, fertility, Fitness to Practice, fractures, funding, General Election, genetics, GPs, Hanly report, HIQA, HIV, HPSC, HRB, hse, HSE, human tissue, hygiene, hypertension, IBTS, ICGP, IHCA, IMB, immunity, IMO, imo, industrial action, influenza, INO, insurance, Irish Healthcare Awards, IT, locums, LRC, lung disease, maternity, MAUs, media, medical cards, Medical Council, medical school, medico-legal, men's health, mental health, migraine, MRSA, NCHDs, needle-stick injury, neurology, NHS, Non-EU doctors, North East, NTPF, nurses, nursing home, nutrition, obesity, obstetrics, Ombudsman, out-of-hours, palliative care, pandemic, patient records, PCRS (GMS), pharmaceuticals, pharmacy, politics, practice management, pregnancy, prescribing, primary care, privatisation, quality, radiology, radiotherapy, RCPI, RCSI, reconfiguration, recruitment, regional hospitals, renal, research, savings, screening, sexual assault, sexual health, smoking, sports medicine, stem cells, stroke, suicide, surgery, transplants, transport, tuberculosis, vaccine, Vhi, waiting lists, WHO, women's health, work-life balance

«Previous article | Next article»

Trauma a big killer for drug addicts

Trauma, such as a car crash, caused two-thirds of deaths among drug users between 1998 and 2005 with medical causes like cardiac events, respiratory infections and liver disease accounting for the other third.

In the first piece of research of its kind, the Health Research Board (HRB) reported 885 drug users died during the seven-year period.

Senior HRB researcher, Dr Suzi Lyons, said most of the deaths were very premature, involving people aged between 20 and 40. She added many deaths by hanging or drowning had positive toxicology results for antidepressants as well as other drugs.

“The presence of antidepressants suggests that a proportion of these cases may have had mental health problems. There should be dual diagnosis. People should be treated for mental illness and substance misuse. In Ireland there is a separation between treatment for mental health and substance misuse.”

Males in their 20s accounted for most of the 476 deaths due to trauma. Hanging accounted for one-third, a road traffic accident caused one-in-five and in half of those incidents the deceased was the driver. In 85.6 per cent of deaths by trauma there was a positive toxicology report. In many cases more than one substance was present.

Cannabis was the illegal drug most commonly found. Alcohol was present in almost two-thirds of cases. Cannabis, heroin and cocaine were found in the greatest proportions in deaths due to violence. Esctasy was found most in deaths due to road traffic crashes.

Given the numbers driving at the time of death, Dr Lyons said Ireland needed a reliable system of roadside testing for the presence of drugs in the body.

Posted in Public Health on 01 December 2009
Tags: addiction