ArticleInternational journal for equity in health2020
Deaths of despair: cause-specific mortality and socioeconomic inequalities in cause-specific mortality among young men in Scotland.
Article in International journal for equity in health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- A systematic review of the association between alcohol-related deaths and area-level socioeconomic deprivation and other geographic characteristics in high-income countries.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- Have Deaths of Despair Risen during the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Longer residence in disadvantaged neighborhoods predicts both a syndrome of despair and deaths of despair: Complementary evidence from nationwide register and birth-cohort studies.Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2026Article
- Qualitative evidence for the determinants of deaths of despair: a scoping review.BMC public health · 2026Article
- The decline of 'Deaths of Despair' in Italy: unveiling this phenomenon in a new context.Population health metrics · 2026Article
- Deaths of despair before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a comparative analysis of 27 European countries and the United States.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Income inequality and deaths of despair: a population-based study of 19 million Canadian adults.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2025Article
- Moralisation, stigmatisation, and downstream interventions: How symbolic violence sustains geographic inequalities in deaths of despair in England.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2025Article
- Trends in educational inequalities in all-course mortality and deaths of despair in Swedish youths 1990-2018.SSM - population health · 2025Article
- Age, period, and cohort trends of substance poisoning, alcohol-related disease, and suicide deaths in Australia, 1980-2019.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2025Observational
- "They pulled that funding away and we're not recovering. it's getting worse": deaths of despair in post-austerity north east England.International journal for equity in health · 2024Article
- Socio-economic vulnerability and deaths of despair in Brazilian counties.Preventive medicine reports · 2024Article
- Tracing the origins of midlife despair: association of psychopathology during adolescence with a syndrome of despair-related maladies at midlife.Psychological medicine · 2023Article
- Trends in cause-specific mortality: deaths of despair in Spain, 1980-2019.Journal of public health (Oxford, England) · 2023Article
- Prepandemic inequalities in the burden of disease in Scotland due to multiple deprivation: a retrospective study.BMJ public health · 2023Article
- The public health implications of the cost-of-living crisis: outlining mechanisms and modelling consequences.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2023Review
- When experts disagree: interviews with public health experts on health outcomes in the UK 2010-2020.Public health · 2023Article
- DASHES Protocol: Development and Feasibility Testing of a Tailored Community Programme to Support People in Recovery from Problematic Alcohol and Drug Use to Cut Down or Stop Smoking Using Co-Creation.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Trends in the diversity of mortality causes and age-standardised mortality rates among subpopulations within Scotland, 2001-2019.SSM - population health · 2022Article
- An ecological study of temporal trends in 'deaths of despair' in England and Wales.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2022Article
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Abstract
backgroundIncreasing mortality among men from drugs, alcohol and suicides is a growing public health concern in many countries. Collectively known as "deaths of despair", they are seen to stem from unprecedented economic pressures and a breakdown in social support structures.
methodsWe use high-quality population wide Scottish data to calculate directly age-standardized mortality rates for men aged 15-44 between 1980 and 2018 for 15 leading causes of mortality. Absolute and relative inequalities in mortality by cause are calculated using small-area deprivation and the slope and relative indices of inequality (SII and RII
resultsSince 1980 there have been only small reductions in mortality among men aged 15-44 in Scotland. In that period drug-related deaths have increased from 1.2 (95% CI 0.7-1.4) to 44.9 (95% CI 42.5-47.4) deaths per 100,000 and are now the leading cause of mortality. Between 2001 and 2018 there have been small reductions in absolute but not in relative inequalities in all-cause mortality. However, absolute inequalities in mortality from drugs have doubled from SII = 66.6 (95% CI 61.5-70.9) in 2001-2003 to SII = 120.0 (95% CI 113.3-126.8) in 2016-2018. Drugs are the main contributor to inequalities in mortality, and together with alcohol harm and suicides make up 65% of absolute inequalities in mortality.
conclusionsContrary to the substantial reductions in mortality across all ages in the past decades, deaths among young men are increasing from preventable causes. Attempts to reduce external causes of mortality have focused on a single cause of death and not been effective in reducing mortality or inequalities in mortality from external causes in the long-run. To reduce deaths of despair, action should be taken to address social determinants of health and reduce socioeconomic inequalities.
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