Abstract

APELLANIZ, Alfonso  and  MANZANARO, Ricardo. Characteristics of the Poisoning Mortality in the 1986-2001 Period in the Autonomous Basque Community, Spain. Rev. Esp. Salud Publica [online]. 2005, vol.79, n.5, pp.569-579. ISSN 2173-9110.

Background: Acute drug-related deaths are frequent, giving rise to high Potential Years of Life Lost figures. The objectives of this research are to ascertain the trend in the acute drug-related death rate in the Autonomous Basque Community and the variance thereof in terms of different variables. Method: The drug-related death rate data from the Autonomous Basque Community's Death Register for the 1986-2001 period was analyzed overall in terms of different demographic variables and by cause of death (ICD-9 and ICD-10). The analysis includes gross death rates and standardized rates by European population. The potential years of life lost are calculated. Results: Acute drug-related deaths numbering 1,207 in all were recorded during the period under study, totaling 045% of all deaths, for a gross rate of 3.58 deaths / 100,000 inhabitants. The mean Potential Years of Life Lost were 2,226.33 /year, for a rate of 1.12 / 1000. A total of 75.97% of these deaths were males, the average age at time of death having been 40.29 years (36.09 for males and 52.64 for females). The etiology most often involved was: accidental (82.19%), followed by intentional (12.43%) and undetermined (5.38%)-. Accidental poisoning by other drugs (E-850 in ICD-9, X44 in ICD-10) was the leading cause of death (42.30% and 34.75% respectively). Conclusions: There has been an increase in the number of acute drug-related deaths throughout the period studied, the accidental prescribed drug overdose being the main cause, entailing statistically significant differences by sex and age.

Keywords : Mortality; Poisoning; Accidents; Suicide; Adverse effects; Toxicity.

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