@article{ref1,
title="Rates, characteristics and circumstances of methamphetamine-related death in Australia: a national 7 year study",
journal="Addiction",
year="2017",
author="Darke, Shane and Kaye, Sharlene and Duflou, Johan",
volume="112",
number="12",
pages="2191-2201",
abstract="AIMS: Assess trends in the number, and mortality rates, of methamphetamine-related death in Australia, 2009-2015; 2. Assess the characteristics, and the cause, manner and circumstances of death; and 3. Assess the blood methamphetamine concentrations and the presence of other drugs in methamphetamine-related death. <br><br>DESIGN: Analysis of cases of methamphetamine-related death retrieved from the National Coronial Information System (NCIS). SETTING: Australia. CASES: All cases in which methamphetamine was coded in the NCIS database as a mechanism contributing to death (n=1,649). MEASUREMENTS: Information was collected on cause and manner of death, demographics, location, circumstances of death and toxicology. <br><br>FINDINGS: The mean age of cases was 36.9 years, and 78.4% were male. The crude mortality rate was 1.03 per 100,000. The rate increased significantly over time (p<.001), and at 2015 the mortality rate was 1.8 (CI 1.2-2.4) times that of 2009. Deaths were due to accidental drug toxicity (43.2%), natural disease (22.3%), suicide (18.2%), other accident (14.9%) and homicide (1.5%). In 40.8% of cases, death occurred outside the major capital cities. The median blood methamphetamine concentration was 0.17mg/L, and cases in which only methamphetamine was detected had higher concentrations than other cases (0.30 v 0.15 mg/L, p<.001). The median blood methamphetamine concentration varied within a narrow range (0.15-0.20mg/L) across manner of death. In the majority (82.8%) of cases substances other than methamphetamine were detected, most frequently opioids (43.1%) and hypnosedatives (38.0%). <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Methamphetamine death rates doubled in Australia from 2009 to 2015. While toxicity was the most frequent cause, natural disease, suicide and accident comprised more than half of deaths.<br><br>This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0965-2140",
doi="10.1111/add.13897",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/add.13897"
}