[Mortality of narcotic addicts using injections].

The paper presents and discusses results of a longitudinal study on mortality of injecting drug users from detoxification unit of the Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland. The study was a part of an international project initiated by the World Health Organization and co-ordinated by Department of Epidemiology Lazio Region, Rome, Italy. Nine centers from six countries participated in the project. All infecting drug users attending treatment in the 1983-1992 period were enrolled. In Warsaw cohort, direct mortality rate for men was 25.7 per 1000 person-years and 14.3 per 1000 person-years for women. As compared with general population the risk of death was 11 times higher among males and 20 times higher among female drug users. Poisson's regression model showed that risk of dyeing (rate ratio) is particularly high during first year after last treatment. Almost 40% of deaths were classified as sudden deaths, cause unknown (code 798 of ICD IX) while close to one third as injuries and poisonings (800-999).