Health statistics quarterly
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In this article we report trends in deaths related to drug misuse in England and Wales from 1993 to 2004, looking particularly at the period between 1999 and 2004, for which there was a Government target to reduce these deaths by 20 per cent. Although there was an overall decline in deaths related to drug misuse between 1999 and 2004, the percentage reduction, at 9 per cent, was less than the Government target. There was an increase in deaths between 2003 and 2004, largely accounted for by deaths involving heroin/methadone and morphine. Mortality rates were highest in young adults and an increase in mortality rates within this group appears to have been the driver behind rising mortality trends during the 1990s.
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Almost 6,000 people killed themselves in the UK in 2004. While suicide rates in the UK fell between 1991 and 2004 this decrease did not occur in all areas. Large disparities remain between suicide rates in the countries of the UK, and between regions and local areas. This article also presents inequalities in suicide rates by deprivation, and considers change over time, for men and women, and for different age groups.
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This article examines General Household Survey data from 1972 to 2004/05. It describes trends in cigarette smoking over time, observes how prevalence by age has changed over the last four decades, then examines pseudo-cohort trends in cigarette smoking for both men and women in Great Britain. ⋯ The remaining smokers were less likely to smoke 20 or more cigarettes than those in previous cohorts. However both these trends have now stopped, suggesting the levels of cigarette consumption we are observing today among men may be maintained in future generations if these patterns continue.