Illicit drugs

Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) data is used by numerous organisations to give an account of the effects of illicit drug use. This article highlights some of the statistics and findings from HES data, and refers to a selection of reports from organisations such as the Home Office, which provide further information.

What are illicit drugs?

Illicit drugs are those drugs controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (Modification) Order 2001. The 2008-09 British Crime Survey (BCS) estimated that 37% of 16- to 59-year-olds living in England and Wales had used an illicit drug at least once in their lifetime, 10% had used drugs in the past year and 6% had done so in the last month.

What are the associated health risks?

HES data provides record-level details of hospital treatments due to illicit drug use. The following table shows HES data for the top five diagnoses of those misusing drugs and therefore treated in hospital in the years 2006-07 to 2008-09.

* ICD-10 3-character diagnosis codes, all diagnosis count of episodes. These figures represent a count of all FCEs (finished consultant episodes) where the diagnosis was mentioned in any of the 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and 7 prior to 2002-03) diagnosis fields in a HES record. Please note that an FCE is only included once in each count, even if a diagnosis is mentioned in more than one diagnosis field of the record.

According to the BCS one in ten adults breaks the law each year to take drugs. However, a criminal record is not the only risk in taking illicit drugs; individuals also face potential health risks. This is due to the fact illicit drugs are not controlled or supervised by medical professionals. For example, in the table above we note that diagnosis of mental and behavioural disorders due to use of cannabinoids (F12) are among the consistently higher figures over the years. These results are in agreement with the findings of the BCS (2008-09) which concludes that, 'Cannabis is the type of drug most likely to be used', and further concludes that its usage has been consistently high over the years (8% in 2008-09).

What does HES data tell us?

Between 2006-07 and 2008-09, there has been a 13% increase in the number of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) with a primary diagnosis of poisoning by drugs (ICD-10 codes T40 and T43.6) in England (13,366 FCEs in 2008-09 compared to 11,838 FCEs in 2006-07). During the period under review (2006-07 to 2008-09):

• males were more likely to be treated in hospital with a primary diagnosis of poisoning by drugs than females. For example, there were 7,376 males compared to 5,990 females in 2008-09
• the 25- to 34-year-old age group was reported as having the highest number of FCEs with a primary diagnosis of poisoning by drugs in 2008-09 (in contrast, 16- to 24-year-olds accounted for the most FCEs in 2007-08 and 2006-07
• the north-west GOR (government office region) has the highest number of recorded FCEs over the period 2006-07 to 2008-09 with a primary diagnosis of poisoning by drugs. The region accounted for 21% of primary diagnosis of poisoning by drugs in 2008-09.

Furthermore, in 2008-09 there were 6,506 FCEs in England with a primary diagnosis of a drug-related mental health and behavioural disorder (ICD-10 codes F11-F16, F19). Of these FCEs:

• males were more likely to be admitted with a primary diagnosis of drug-related mental health and behavioural disorders than females (4,633 males compared to 1,873 females in 2008-09)
• the 25- to 34-year-old age group accounted for the most FCEs (38.8% of all FCEs in 2008-09)
• in 2008-09 London GOR had the highest number of FCEs with a primary diagnosis of drug-related mental health and behavioural disorders (1,380). However, in 2006-07 and 2007-08, north-west GOR had the highest recorded number of FCEs (1,565 and 1,445 respectively).

Further information

As well as the reports mentioned in the article above, you may also be interested in reading the following:

• Young People and Crime: Findings from the 2006 Offending, Crime and Justice Survey. The Home Office, 2008
• The Office for National Statistics Health Statistics Quarterly 39 (August 2008)
• Drug-related deaths in the UK. National Programme on Substance Abuse Deaths (np-SAD), International Centre for Drug Policy (ICDP), St George's, University of London, UK, 2006.