Historique
Article de Périodique
All-cause mortality rate of people in treatment for substance use disorders in Belgium: A register-based cohort study (2019)
Auteur(s) :
L. VAN BAELEN ;
J. ANTOINE ;
K. DE RIDDER ;
E. PLETTINCKX ;
L. GREMEAUX
Article en page(s) :
481-486
Domaine :
Alcool / Alcohol ; Drogues illicites / Illicit drugs
Langue(s) :
Anglais
Discipline :
EPI (Epidémiologie / Epidemiology)
Thésaurus géographique
BELGIQUE
Thésaurus mots-clés
MORTALITE
;
PRODUIT ILLICITE
;
ALCOOL
;
TRAITEMENT
;
FACTEUR DE RISQUE
Résumé :
Background: The objective of the current paper is to estimate the all-cause mortality rates for people who have been in treatment for substance use disorders (SUD) in Belgium.
Methods: Data from the national register of people who were in treatment for SUD between 2011-2014 was linked to mortality data gathered through the seven Belgian health insurance agencies (N = 30,905). Four comparators were matched on age, sex, and place of residence to each subject in treatment for SUD (N = 123,497). A Cox proportional hazards model was utilized to test the risk of all-cause mortality for being in treatment for SUD or not. A second Cox proportional hazards model tested the risk of all-cause mortality for several drug-related covariates for people in treatment for SUD.
Results: The overall mortality rate for people in treatment reached 15.59 per 1,000 person-years. Being in treatment for illicit substance use disorders was associated with a nearly 11-fold increase in all-cause mortality, whereas being in treatment for licit drugs raised the likelihood of a premature death sevenfold.
Conclusions: The results have implications for interventions seeking to reduce the elevated SUD-related mortality, and they highlight the need to intensify harm reduction strategies for people with SUD to significantly reduce drug-related mortality.
Methods: Data from the national register of people who were in treatment for SUD between 2011-2014 was linked to mortality data gathered through the seven Belgian health insurance agencies (N = 30,905). Four comparators were matched on age, sex, and place of residence to each subject in treatment for SUD (N = 123,497). A Cox proportional hazards model was utilized to test the risk of all-cause mortality for being in treatment for SUD or not. A second Cox proportional hazards model tested the risk of all-cause mortality for several drug-related covariates for people in treatment for SUD.
Results: The overall mortality rate for people in treatment reached 15.59 per 1,000 person-years. Being in treatment for illicit substance use disorders was associated with a nearly 11-fold increase in all-cause mortality, whereas being in treatment for licit drugs raised the likelihood of a premature death sevenfold.
Conclusions: The results have implications for interventions seeking to reduce the elevated SUD-related mortality, and they highlight the need to intensify harm reduction strategies for people with SUD to significantly reduce drug-related mortality.
Affiliation :
Department of Public Health and Surveillance, Sciensano, Brussels, Belgium