Mortality of registered drug users in Central Asia |
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| Institution: | 1. ResAd, Prague – Research and Development in Drug Epidemiology and Policy, Prague, Czech Republic;2. Department of Addictology, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague and General University Hospital in Prague, Czech Republic;3. National Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, Czech Republic;4. Department of Public Health, University of Tartu, Estonia;5. Drug Control Department under the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, Lithuanian REITOX National Focal Point, Lithuania;6. National Research Center on Medical and Social Problems of Drug Addiction, Kazakhstan;7. Ministry of Health of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Uzbekistan;8. National Center for Monitoring and Prevention of Drug Addiction, Tajikistan;9. National Center for Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, Tajikistan;1. Department of Health Education and Promotion, East Carolina University, 2302 Carol Belk Building, MS 529, Greenville, NC 27858, USA;2. Department of Health Education and Promotion, East Carolina University, 2206 Carol Belk Building, MS 529, Greenville, NC 27858, USA;3. Department of Criminal Justice, East Carolina University, 239 Rivers Building, Greenville, NC 27858, USA;1. UMCAS University Malaya, Malaysia;2. Cyberjaya University College of Medical Sciences, Malaysia;3. Tehran Islamic Azad University, Iran;1. School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland;2. Farenta Oy, Vantaa, Finland;3. Centre for Medicine Use and Safety, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia;4. School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia;1. Department of Psychology, London South Bank University, 103 Borough Road, London SE1 0AA, United Kingdom;2. School of Psychology, University of East London, Stratford Campus, Room AE236, Water Lane E15 4LZ, United Kingdom;1. Department of Marketing, College of Business at Iowa State University, 3250 Gerdin Building, Ames, IA 50011, United States;2. Department of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University, 15 Warren Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, United States |
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| Abstract: | BackgroundWithin the fifth phase of the Central Asia Drug Action Programme (CADAP) covering five post-Soviet Central Asian countries, an analysis of the mortality of drug users was performed. The results for Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are presented in detail in this paper since results from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are not considered valid and Turkmenistan did not provide data at all.MethodsA system of registration of all users of illegal drugs known to the health and/or law enforcement authorities (“narcological registers”) exists in Central Asian countries inherited from the system of Soviet “narcology”. According to the legal norms, the death of a registered person should be recorded. We conducted indirect standardisation of crude mortality rates and computed the standardised mortality ratio (SMR) comparing observed number of deaths with expected number of deaths according to age and gender specific mortality rates in the general population of the same country.ResultsThe results show excess mortality in registered drug users, particularly in registered females, in Uzbekistan (the latest available SMR for all those registered is 7.4; the SMR in females is 16.3) and Kazakhstan (4.0 and 12.9). The excess mortality is highest among young adults (18–34) in all the studies.ConclusionTaking into account the limited quality and reliability of the data – first of all, the likely under-reporting of deaths in the narcological registers – the crude mortality rate among registered drug users is quite high when compared to EU countries. The SMR in total is comparably lower as a result of the high background mortality in the general population. This excess mortality is preventable and should be targeted by the national drug policies. Specifically, the programmes should target registered and unregistered female drug users. |
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| Keywords: | Central Asia Mortality Drug users Heroin Standardised mortality ratio Narcological register |
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