ArticleDrugs (Abingdon, England)2022
Why are drug-related deaths among women increasing in Scotland? A mixed-methods analysis of possible explanations.
Article in Drugs (Abingdon, England), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic review: The relationship between gabapentinoids, etizolam, and drug related deaths in Scotland.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- Changing trends in drug overdose mortality in Spain, 2001-2022.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Observational
- Exploring Scottish addiction services: provider-based stigma, addiction aetiology beliefs, treatment bias, and burnout among addiction treatment providers.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2026Article
- Rising mortality among people who inject drugs living with HIV in Scotland, UK: A 20-year retrospective cohort study.HIV medicine · 2025Article
- Assessing the reach and engagement with the 'Drugs (Abingdon, England) · 2024Article
- Overdose mortality rates for opioids and stimulant drugs are substantially higher in men than in women: state-level analysis.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Article
- The public health implications of the cost-of-living crisis: outlining mechanisms and modelling consequences.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2023Review
- Helping themselves and helping others: how the passage of time influences why mothers with addictions take part in research.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- An avoidable crisis.Harm reduction journal · 2022Review
- Differences in addiction and recovery gains according to gender - gender barriers and specific differences in overall strengths growth.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2022Article
- Vulnerability, Risk and Harm for People Who Use Drugs and Are Engaged in Transactional Sex: Learning for Service Delivery.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Trends in Mortality From Novel Psychoactive Substances as "Legal Highs": Gender Differences in Manner of Death and Implications for Risk Differences for Women.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Hidden GBV: Women and substance use.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Trends in drug poisoning deaths, by sex, in Ireland: a repeated cross-sectional study from 2004 to 2017.BMJ open · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Drug-related deaths have increased significantly in Scotland in recent years, with a much greater percentage increase in deaths among women than among men. We undertook a mixed-methods project to identify explanations for this trend, comprising three parallel methodological strands: (i) an analysis of available routine data, including drug treatment data, death registrations, and surveys of people using needle exchanges; (ii) thematic analysis of interviews and focus groups with professional stakeholders and (iii) secondary analysis of interviews with women who use drugs. Results indicated that the observed trend is likely to reflect multiple, interacting causes. Potential contributors identified were: ageing; changing patterns of substance use; increasing prevalence of physical and mental health co-morbidities; changing relationships and parenting roles; changes to treatment services and wider health and social care provision; unintended consequences or poor implementation of recovery-oriented practice; and changes in the social security system. Policy responses to rising drug-related death rates require a gender-informed approach, recognising the commonalities and differences between men and women who use drugs; the diversity of experiences within each gender; and the intersections between gender and other forms of inequality, such as poverty.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.