Deviating Temporal Trends of Substance Abuse Mortality in High-Income Countries

Adarsh Adarsh , University of St-Andrews
Enrique Acosta, Centre for Demographic Studies
Mikko Myrskylä, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research and London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
Hill Kulu, University of St Andrews

Most high-income countries are currently experiencing a crisis in drug- and alcohol-related mortality, also known as substance abuse (SA) mortality. SA mortality has been conventionally studied separately or combined without distinction over age-period. Individuals with SA behavior, however, engage in polysubstance use with a prevalent cohort disadvantage. We found that most UK cohorts born in the 1970s are disadvantaged towards SA mortality. We show that mortality disadvantages related to the abuse of drugs and alcohol converge on the exact birth cohorts in most cases. We identify that Scotland is exceptional in this regard, as birth cohorts seem to alternate abuse susceptibility between both substances over time. Our findings are relevant in determining which birth cohorts are at elevated risk due to SA mortality, thus foreseeing potential mortality perturbations in the future. Overall, this study lays the groundwork for future research on SA abuse mortality to explain better its determinants as well as cohort inequalities.

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 Presented in Session 87. Mortality Trends and Risk Factors