IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0125568.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Social Gradient in Fatal Opioids and Cocaine Related Overdoses?

Author

Listed:
  • Alain Origer
  • Etienne Le Bihan
  • Michèle Baumann

Abstract

Background: To determine the existence of a social gradient in fatal overdose cases related to non-prescribed opioids and cocaine use, recorded in Luxembourg between 1994 and 2011. Methods: Overdose cases were individually matched with four controls in a nested case-control study design, according to sex, year of birth, drug administration route and duration of drug use. The study sample, composed of 272 cases and 1,056 controls, was stratified according to a Social Inequality Accumulation Score (SIAS), based on educational attainment, employment, income, financial situation of subjects and the professional status of their father or legal guardian. Least squares linear regression analysis on overdose mortality rates and ridit scores were applied to determine the Relative Index of Inequality (RII) of the study sample. Results: A negative linear relationship between the overdose mortality rate and the relative socioeconomic position was observed. We found a difference in mortality of 29.22 overdose deaths per 100 drug users in the lowest socioeconomic group compared to the most advantaged group. In terms of the Relative Inequality Index, the overdose mortality rate of opioid and cocaine users with lowest socioeconomic profiles was 9.88 times as high as that of their peers from the highest socioeconomic group (95% CI 6.49–13.26). Conclusions: Our findings suggest the existence of a marked social gradient in opioids and cocaine related overdose fatalities. Harm reduction services should integrate socially supportive offers, not only because of their general aim of social (re)integration but crucially in order to meet their most important objective, that is to reduce drug-related mortality.

Suggested Citation

  • Alain Origer & Etienne Le Bihan & Michèle Baumann, 2015. "A Social Gradient in Fatal Opioids and Cocaine Related Overdoses?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(5), pages 1-10, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0125568
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0125568
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0125568
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0125568&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0125568?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yingye Zheng & Tianxi Cai & Yuying Jin & Ziding Feng, 2012. "Evaluating Prognostic Accuracy of Biomarkers under Competing Risk," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 68(2), pages 388-396, June.
    2. Langendam, M.W. & Van Brussel, G.H.A. & Coutinho, R.A. & Van Ameijden, E.J.C., 2001. "The impact of harm-reduction-based methadone treatment on mortality among heroin users," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 91(5), pages 774-780.
    3. O'Driscoll, P.T. & McGough, J. & Hagan, H. & Thiede, H. & Critchlow, C. & Alexander, E.R., 2001. "Predictors of accidental fatal drug overdose among a cohort of injection drug users," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 91(6), pages 984-987.
    4. Mackenbach, Johan P. & Kunst, Anton E., 1997. "Measuring the magnitude of socio-economic inequalities in health: An overview of available measures illustrated with two examples from Europe," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 44(6), pages 757-771, March.
    5. Illsley, Raymond, 1990. "Comparative review of sources, methodology and knowledge," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 229-236, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jamie Moeller & Julie Farmer & Carlos Quiñonez, 2017. "Patterns of analgesic use to relieve tooth pain among residents in British Columbia, Canada," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(5), pages 1-18, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jamie Moeller & Julie Farmer & Carlos Quiñonez, 2017. "Patterns of analgesic use to relieve tooth pain among residents in British Columbia, Canada," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(5), pages 1-18, May.
    2. Fleurbaey, Marc & Schokkaert, Erik, 2009. "Unfair inequalities in health and health care," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 73-90, January.
    3. Natasha Wood & David Bann & Rebecca Hardy & Catharine Gale & Alissa Goodman & Claire Crawford & Mai Stafford, 2017. "Childhood socioeconomic position and adult mental wellbeing: Evidence from four British birth cohort studies," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(10), pages 1-13, October.
    4. Teresa Leão & Inês Campos-Matos & Clare Bambra & Giuliano Russo & Julian Perelman, 2018. "Welfare states, the Great Recession and health: Trends in educational inequalities in self-reported health in 26 European countries," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(2), pages 1-14, February.
    5. Hannelore Grande & Patrick Deboosere & Hadewijch Vandenheede, 2013. "Evolution of educational inequalities in mortality among young adults in an urban setting," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 58(6), pages 825-835, December.
    6. Green, Mark A., 2013. "The equalisation hypothesis and changes in geographical inequalities of age based mortality in England, 2002–2004 to 2008–2010," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 93-98.
    7. William Boyce & Torbjorn Torsheim & Candace Currie & Alessio Zambon, 2006. "The Family Affluence Scale as a Measure of National Wealth: Validation of an Adolescent Self-Report Measure," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 78(3), pages 473-487, September.
    8. Olga Grigoriev & Gabriele Doblhammer, 2019. "Changing educational gradient in long-term care-free life expectancy among German men, 1997-2012," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(9), pages 1-20, September.
    9. Ana Isabel Ribeiro & Elias Teixeira Krainski & Marilia Sá Carvalho & Guy Launoy & Carole Pornet & Maria de Fátima Pina, 2018. "Does community deprivation determine longevity after the age of 75? A cross-national analysis," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 63(4), pages 469-479, May.
    10. Laia Palència & Albert Espelt & Maica Rodríguez-Sanz & Katia B. Rocha & M. Isabel Pasarín & Carme Borrell, 2013. "Trends in social class inequalities in the use of health care services within the Spanish National Health System, 1993–2006," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 14(2), pages 211-219, April.
    11. Erreygers, Guido & Van Ourti, Tom, 2011. "Measuring socioeconomic inequality in health, health care and health financing by means of rank-dependent indices: A recipe for good practice," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 685-694, July.
    12. Wiktoria Wróblewska, 2012. "Nierówności społeczne w stanie zdrowia w Polsce – analiza na podstawie samooceny stanu zdrowia oraz poziomu wykształcenia," Collegium of Economic Analysis Annals, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of Economic Analysis, issue 28, pages 65-84.
    13. Håvard T Rydland & Erlend L Fjær & Terje A Eikemo & Tim Huijts & Clare Bambra & Claus Wendt & Ivana Kulhánová & Pekka Martikainen & Chris Dibben & Ramunė Kalėdienė & Carme Borrell & Mall Leinsalu & Ma, 2020. "Educational inequalities in mortality amenable to healthcare. A comparison of European healthcare systems," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-17, July.
    14. Dalstra, J.A.A. & Kunst, A.E. & Mackenbach, J.P., 2006. "A comparative appraisal of the relationship of education, income and housing tenure with less than good health among the elderly in Europe," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(8), pages 2046-2060, April.
    15. Regidor, Enrique & Lostao, Lourdes & Pascual, Cruz & Martinez, David & Calle, M Elisa & Dominguez, Vicente, 2005. "Income in large residential areas and premature mortality in six countries of the European Union," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 99-108, December.
    16. Daniel Falkstedt & Kimmo Sorjonen & Tomas Hemmingsson & Ian J Deary & Bo Melin, 2013. "Psychosocial Functioning and Intelligence Both Partly Explain Socioeconomic Inequalities in Premature Death. A Population-Based Male Cohort Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(12), pages 1-8, December.
    17. Weining Shen & Jing Ning & Ying Yuan, 2015. "A direct method to evaluate the time-dependent predictive accuracy for biomarkers," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 71(2), pages 439-449, June.
    18. Florian Bonnet & Hippolyte d'Albis, 2020. "Spatial Inequality in Mortality in France over the Past Two Centuries," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 46(1), pages 145-168, March.
    19. Hiyoshi, Ayako & Fukuda, Yoshiharu & Shipley, Martin J. & Brunner, Eric J., 2014. "Health inequalities in Japan: The role of material, psychosocial, social relational and behavioural factors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 201-209.
    20. Hendi, Arun S. & Elo, Irma T. & Martikainen, Pekka, 2021. "The implications of changing education distributions for life expectancy gradients," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 272(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0125568. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.