Drug-related deaths in Scotland
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Trends and Pathological findings in Drug-Related Deaths in Scotland
IRAS ID
215938
Contact name
Berlian Isnia Fitrasanti
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Glasgow
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 4 months, 30 days
Research summary
Drug abuse has become global problem and the number of users increases in parallel with the increase of global population. In Scotland, in 2014, there were 613 drug-related deaths. The statistics include deaths where the cause of death includes mention of a controlled drug. In many cases, the use of a controlled drug is secondary to the cause of death, e.g. hanging. The number of incidental findings of controlled drugs in deaths is not counted. In addition, since 2013 there has been a stark rise in the use of Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) or "legal highs". Some NPS are subsequently controlled following concerns about the harm to society and these will subsequently be reflected in statistics.
This study will look at how drug use trends have changed over the last 9 years to see if there has been a significant change recently and if this change could be associated with the introduction of NPS as an alternative to classical controlled drugs e.g. cocaine and ecstasy.
In addition, in most of the cases, the toxicological analysis is mainly used to confirm suspected drug-related death which is reported in the case history. However, in some cases the possibility of drug-related death is not clearly stated in the history of the case. As a result, the only information to know if it is a drug-related death is toxicology analysis. So far, there is not much information regarding any connection among ante/peri-mortem symptoms, pathological findings and cause of death in drug-related death. Therefore, it is necessary to know whether there is any relationship among history of a case, pathological findings and toxicology analysis result.
Information will be sought regarding history of death, pathological findings, result of toxicological analysis and patterns of drug abuse from database in Forensic Medicine and Science.REC name
West of Scotland REC 3
REC reference
17/WS/0037
Date of REC Opinion
1 Mar 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion