ArticleAddiction (Abingdon, England)2026
Characteristics of methamphetamine-related deaths in the United Kingdom, 1997-2024.
Article in Addiction (Abingdon, England), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Evidence-based consensus guidelines for the pharmacological management of substance dependence: Recommendations from the British Association for Psychopharmacology.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Guideline
- Research Progress on the Regulatory Mechanisms of Gut Microbiota in Methamphetamine Addiction and Targeted Interventions.Addiction biology · 2026Review
- Commentary on Roberts et al.: Trends in methamphetamine-related deaths in the UK and USA-increasing mortality, but in different contexts.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Article
- Characteristics of methamphetamine-related deaths in the United Kingdom, 1997-2024.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsPeople who use methamphetamine have a standardised mortality ratio 6.8 times greater than the general population, with several countries reporting concerning increases in methamphetamine-related mortality over the past decade. Methamphetamine use in the United Kingdom (UK) has been reported as largely confined to communities of men who have sex with men (MSM) with no previous large-scale studies describing mortality associated with methamphetamine. We aimed to determine trends and case characteristics of methamphetamine-related deaths in the UK.
designRetrospective cohort study.
settingCoronial records submitted to the National Programme on Substance Use Mortality (NPSUM) in the UK, 1997-2024. CASES: Decedents for whom methamphetamine was determined as implicated in death following coronial investigation. MEASUREMENTS: Information was available on decedent sociodemographics, characteristics of death and drugs implicated in death.
findings136 decedents had methamphetamine implicated in death. The number of deaths per year were observed to be higher over time since the first death recorded in 2006 (2005-2010, 8 deaths; 2011-2015, 24 deaths; 2016-2020, 47 deaths; 2021-2024, 57 deaths). Decedents were predominantly male (n = 124, 91%) of White ethnicity (n = 68, 50%) with a mean age of 41.5 years (standard deviation 10.4; range 18-71); 77% had a history of substance dependence, 48% of which involved injecting drug use, and 88% had a history of a mental disorder. The median blood methamphetamine concentration detected at post-mortem was 0.83 mg/l (interquartile range 0.26, 2.5). Multiple drug toxicity was implicated in the majority of cases (n = 88, 65%), the most common implicated other drugs being cocaine (n = 27, 20%), gamma-hydroxybutyrate (n = 20, 15%), opioids (n = 20, 15%), benzodiazepines (n = 18, 13%), mephedrone (n = 13, 10%) and ketamine (n = 12, 8%). Accidental poisoning was the most common direct cause of death (n = 89, 65%), with other causes including intentional poisoning, cardiovascular disease, aspiration pneumonia and ischemic bowel disease.
conclusionsOver the past two decades there appears to have been an increase in the number of methamphetamine-related deaths in the UK. These deaths largely involve polysubstance use within an overwhelmingly male population with a high prevalence of substance dependence and mental health disorders.
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