Illegal drug use in the age of ageing

Causes of death in a cohort treated for opioid dependence between 1985 and 2005

“…It is likely that this trend will continue in the future, as the cohort ages. These findings agree with the results of similar analyses of mortality in the United Kingdom, where mortality from chronic diseases increasingly dominates mortality in opioid users over 40 years of age [31].…”

“…Alcohol-related 96 (3) 23 (19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28) 3 (1) 17 (3, 51) 11 (2) 20 (9, 37) 21 (2) 20 (12,31) 61 (4) 22 (17,29) 0.8…”

The impact of blood-borne viruses on cause-specific mortality among opioid dependent people: An Australian population-based cohort study

“…As previously observed in this cohort and opioid users in the UK (Beynon et al, 2010;Degenhardt et al, 2014), older age was associated with increased mortality from each of the chronic diseases we examined, namely cancer, cardiovascular disease, and liver disease. Unlike a prior analysis (Degenhardt et al, 2014), we did not find that younger age was associated with drug overdose or death from unintentional injury or suicide, possibly because of our competing risks approach.…”

End-of-Life Care Alcohol and Other Drugs

“…While problematic substance use can seriously damage the health of younger people (Effiong et al 2012), older people are disproportionately affected given the increased likelihood of other pre-existing health conditions (Department of Health 2008;Rao 2013). Evidence shows an increase in the rate of alcohol-related hospital admissions among older people (Wadd and Popadopoulos 2014) and an increase in illicit drug use among older age groups (Beynon, Stimson & Lawson 2010). This is predicted to grow further, placing significant demand on end-of-life and palliative care services (Dixon et al 2015).…”