Socio-Demographic Profile and Hiv and Hepatitis C Prevalence Among Persons Who Died of a Drug Overdose

Abstract

To describe the sociodemographic characteristics and HIV and Hepatitis C prevalence among persons who died of a drug overdose in the Vancouver metropolis health region in 1998. Methods: A retrospective review was conducted on all overdose death files in the Vancouver/Richmond health region reported to the Office of the Chief Coroner. The files included, autopsy, toxicology, virology, and coroner reports. External linkages were done to determine the proportion of individuals on antiretro-viral treatment. Contingency analyses were conducted to determine factors associated with Hepatitis C and HIV seropositivity. Results: Data on a total of 199 deaths were obtained from the coroner's office. Of these 37 (18.6%) were female and 162 (81.4%) were male. A total of 25 (12.6%) deaths were among persons of First Nations descent and 134 (73.6%) were among chronic drug users. The median age at death was 38 years (Interquartile range [IQR]: 32–45 years). The drug most commonly responsible for overdose was heroin [89 (47.3%) deaths]. A total of 91 (45.7%) deaths were tested for HIV and 95 (47.7%) deaths were tested for HCV. Of those deaths, 28 (29.8%) were HIV-positive and 78(78.0%) were HCV-positive. Conclusion: Our analysis suggests that those dying of illicit drug overdose in Vancouver during 1998, are largely comprised of older, male, chronic injection drug users. Rates of HIV and HCV positivity are very high in this group.

Key Words:

• Overdose deaths
• illicit drug use
• heroin
• cocaine
• polydrug use