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Potential Years of Life Lost Due to Premature Mortality Among Treatment-Seeking Illicit Drug Users in Finland

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Abstract

Premature death is a serious public health concern. The primary objective of this study was to examine premature deaths in terms of potential years of life lost (PYLL) in a cohort of 4817 treatment-seeking illicit drug users. Clients’ data were linked to the Finnish national cause-of-death register and the follow-up period ranged from 31 January 1997 to 31 December 2010. PYLL before 70 years was calculated for all deaths and cause-specific deaths by gender. We observed 496 deaths (417 males and 79 females) at the end of 2010. The mean age at death was 33.8 years, 34.3 years for males (range 18–68) and 31.4 years for females (range 16–53). Overall, 17,951 life years were lost; 14,898 among males and 3053 among females. The overall PYLL rate for males was more than twice that of females (513.0/1000 vs. 243.7/1000 person-years) but the mean PYLL was higher in females than males (38.6 vs. 35.7 years). Of the total PYLL, 34.8 % was due to accidental overdose, and 24.0 % to suicide. In both genders, accidental overdose and suicide were the two top-ranking causes of PYLL. Premature deaths among drug users are a potential loss to the society. Our findings suggest that measures targeting accidental overdose and suicide are top priorities for reducing preventable loss of life.

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Acknowledgments

The Academy of Finland (Grant Number 118584), and the Finnish Cultural Foundation (Central Fund) provided funding support for this study. We thank Veli Koistinen for his invaluable comments at the beginning of this study. We also thank the staff of Helsinki Deaconess Institute for their collaboration.

Conflict of interest

I.N.O. received unrelated funding from Lundbeck Ltd., Finland in 2013, and all other authors do not have any conflict of interest to declare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Health Sciences, Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1627, 70211, Kuopio, Finland

    Ifeoma N. Onyeka, Kimmo Ronkainen & Jussi Kauhanen

  2. Liverpool, UK

    Caryl M. Beynon

  3. Department of Health and Social Management, Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland

    Ilkka Vohlonen

  4. FCG Finnish Consulting Group, Helsinki, Finland

    Ilkka Vohlonen

  5. Department of Forensic Psychiatry, University of Eastern Finland, Niuvanniemi Hospital, Kuopio, Finland

    Jari Tiihonen

  6. National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland

    Jari Tiihonen

  7. Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden

    Jari Tiihonen

  8. Helsinki Deaconess Institute, Helsinki, Finland

    Jaana Föhr

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  1. Ifeoma N. Onyeka
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  2. Caryl M. Beynon
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Correspondence to Ifeoma N. Onyeka.

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Onyeka, I.N., Beynon, C.M., Vohlonen, I. et al. Potential Years of Life Lost Due to Premature Mortality Among Treatment-Seeking Illicit Drug Users in Finland. J Community Health 40, 1099–1106 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-015-0035-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-015-0035-z

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