Deputy of Health, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Islamic Republic of Iran.
Department of Statistics, Faculty of Sciences, Razi University, Kermanshah, Islamic Republic of Iran.
East Mediterr Health J. 2023 Jan 19;29(1):24-32. doi: 10.26719/emhj.23.003.
Drug use disorders are significant social and public health concerns in the Islamic Republic of Iran; however, little is known about drug-related mortality.
We quantified the spatial and age distribution of direct illicit-drug-related mortality in the Islamic Republic of Iran, to inform harm reduction policies and interventions.
We modelled and mapped registered illicit-drug-related deaths from March 2016 to March 2017. Data were obtained from the Iranian Forensic Medicine Organization. Besag-York-Mollie models were fitted using Bayesian spatial analysis to estimate the relative risk of illicit-drug-related mortality across different provinces and age groups.
There were 2203 registered illicit-drug-related deaths during the study period, 1289 (58.5%) occurred in people aged 20-39 years and among men (n = 2013; 91.4%). The overall relative risk (95% credible interval) of illicit-drug-related mortality in the provinces of Hamadan (3.37; 2.88-3.91), Kermanshah (1.90; 1.55-2.28), Tehran (1.80; 1.67-1.94), Lorestan (1.71; 1.37-2.09), Isfahan (1.40; 1.21-1.60), and Razavi Khorasan (1.18; 1.04-1.33) was significantly higher than in the rest of the country.
We found evidence of age differences and spatial variations in illicit-drug-related mortality across different provinces in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Our findings highlight the urgent need to revisit existing drug-use treatment and harm reduction policies and ensure that overdose prevention programmes are adequately available for different age groups and settings.
药物使用障碍是伊朗伊斯兰共和国的重大社会和公共卫生问题，但对与药物相关的死亡率知之甚少。
我们量化了伊朗伊斯兰共和国直接与非法药物相关的死亡率的空间和年龄分布，为减少伤害政策和干预措施提供信息。
我们对 2016 年 3 月至 2017 年 3 月期间登记的与非法药物相关的死亡进行了建模和制图。数据来自伊朗法医组织。使用贝叶斯空间分析拟合 Besag-York-Mollie 模型，以估计不同省份和年龄组与非法药物相关的死亡率的相对风险。
在研究期间，有 2203 例与非法药物相关的死亡被登记，其中 1289 例（58.5%）发生在 20-39 岁的人群中，其中男性（n=2013；91.4%）。在哈马丹省（3.37；2.88-3.91）、克尔曼沙赫省（1.90；1.55-2.28）、德黑兰省（1.80；1.67-1.94）、洛雷斯坦省（1.71；1.37-2.09）、伊斯法罕省（1.40；1.21-1.60）和拉扎维霍拉桑省（1.18；1.04-1.33），与非法药物相关的死亡率的总体相对风险（95%可信区间）明显高于该国其他地区。
我们发现，伊朗伊斯兰共和国不同省份与非法药物相关的死亡率存在年龄差异和空间变化的证据。我们的研究结果强调了迫切需要重新审视现有的药物使用治疗和减少伤害政策，并确保为不同年龄组和环境提供充分的过量预防方案。
