Abstract
A mortality study of 997 patients registered for treatment at the Wellington Drug Clinic since 1971 was undertaken by examining the New Zealand death records. Sixty-seven known deaths were reported. The mortality rates were increased 11.5 times under the age of 25 years, and 5.8 times for age 25–34 years, but not significantly thereafter. There were 7 deaths from trauma, 8 from suicide, and 28 accidental deaths. Myocarditis was the cause of death in four cases. In the 28 drug-related deaths the principle drugs incriminated were dextropropoxyphene, barbiturates, chloral hydrate, methadone and other opiates. Twenty-one deaths were due to unrelated diseases. It was considered important to document mortality in intravenous drug users in the ‘pre-HIV’ era. This study demonstrates quite low death rates from opioid drugs themselves.
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