The Netherlands Drug Situation 2010 - Trimbos-instituut

Figure 12.1.2:Mortality per 1,000 person years among Amsterdam methadonepatients from 1985-1988 to 2005-200925Mortality per1,000 personyears201510501985-1988 1989-1992 1993-1996 1997-2000 2001-2004 2005-2009Baseline Overdose OtherThe baseline mortality indicates the mortality among the Amsterdam population of the same age as the methadonepatients. Source: Municipal Health Service Amsterdam.Estimated drug-related mortality for the whole of the NetherlandsThe drug-related deaths include the deaths that are directly as well as indirectly relatedto drugs. For 2001 it was estimated that there were a total of 479 deaths of which 11%were considered to be the base-rate mortality not related to drugs, 23% were attributeddirectly to drugs (poisoning, overdose), and 66% were attributed indirectly to drugs(Cruts et al. 2008). The estimate for the total number of drug-related deaths was basedon generalizing the mortality found in Amsterdam to the national prevalence estimate ofproblem opiate users. Since the mortality figures for Amsterdam have been updated forthe year 2009 and the estimate for the number of problem opiate users has been updatedfor the year 2008, a new estimate can now be made for the total number of drugrelateddeaths for the year 2008.For 2008, the number of problem opiate users in the Netherlands has been estimated atabout 17,700 within a range from 17,300 to 18,100 problem opiate users (see § 4.1). In2009, in the Amsterdam cohort of methadone patients, a total mortality rate was foundof 19.27 per 1,000 person years, the base-rate mortality being 4.30, the mortality ratedirectly related to drugs being 1.93, and the mortality rate indirectly related to drugsbeing 13.04 (Buster, Municipal Health Service Amsterdam, personal communication).When generalizing these mortality figures from Amsterdam to the total number of problemopiate users in the Netherlands, a first crude estimation has it that in 2008 there181