TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2018//
TI  - Ageing opioid users' increased risk of methadone-specific death in the UK
JO  - International journal on drug policy
A1  - Pierce, Matthias
A1  - Millar, Tim
A1  - Robertson, J. Roy
A1  - Bird, Sheila M.
SP  - 121
EP  - 127
VL  - 55
IS  - 
N2  - BACKGROUND: The first evidence that the hazard ratio (HR) for methadone-specific death rises more steeply with age-group than for all drug-related deaths (DRDs) came from Scotland's cohort of 33,000 methadone-prescription clients. We aim to examine, for England, whether illicit opioid users' risk of methadone-specific death increases with age; and to pool age-related HRs for methadone-specific deaths with those for Scotland's methadone-prescription clients. <br><br>METHODS: The setting is all services in England that provide publicly-funded, structured treatment for illicit opioid users, the methodology linkage of the English National Drug Treatment Monitoring System and mortality database, and key measurements are DRDs, methadone-specific DRDs, or heroin-specific DRDs, by age-group and gender, with proportional hazards adjustment for substances used, injecting status and periods in/out of treatment. <br><br>RESULTS: Linkage was achieved for 129,979 adults receiving prescribing treatment modalities for opioid dependence during April 2005 to March 2009 and followed-up for 378,009 person-years (pys). There were 1,266 DRDs: 271 methadone-specific (7 per 10,000 pys: irrespective of gender) and 473 heroin-specific (15 per 10,000 pys for males, 7 for females). Methadone-specific DRD-rate per 10,000 person-years was 3.5 (95% CI: 2.7-4.4) at 18-34 years, 8.9 (CI: 7.3-10.5) at 35-44 years and 18 (CI: 13.8-21.2) at 45+ years; heroin-specific DRD-rate was unchanged with age. Relative to 25-34 years, pooled HRs for UK clients' methadone-specific deaths were: 0.87 at <25 years (95% CI: 0.56-1.35); 2.14 at 35-44 years (95% CI: 1.76-2.60); 3.75 at 45+ years (95% CI: 2.99-4.70). <br><br>CONCLUSION: International testing and explanation are needed of UK's sharp age-related increase in the risk of methadone-specific death. Clients should be alerted that their risk of methadone-specific death increases as they age.<br><br>Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0955-3959
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2018.02.005
ID  - ref1
ER  -