Information Centre reports on drug misuse by men

Nearly 80 per cent of people in England and Wales who died due to illicit drug use in 2006 were men, an NHS Information Centre bulletin shows.

And the number of men admitted to hospital in England for drug-related mental health and behavioural disorders was more than double the number of women in 2006-07.

Figures from the bulletin Statistics on Drug Misuse: England, 2008 also show that more than twice as many men as women accessed structured drug treatment in England in 2006-07.

In 2006-07, 13.2 per cent of men in England and Wales reported taking illicit drugs during the last year, compared with 6.9 per cent of women.

Key findings

Key findings from the bulletin, a compendium of data on drug use from several different sources, show there were 1,573 deaths related to drug misuse in England and Wales in 2006. Of these, 79 per cent were men.

There were 4,715 male admissions and 2,019 female hospital admissions in England in 2006-07 where drug-related mental and behavioural disorders was the primary diagnosis. During the same period, there were 5,491 male admissions and 4,554 female admissions where the primary diagnosis was poisoning by drugs.

In 2006-07, a total of 140,077 men accessed structured drug treatment services in England, compared with 55,387 women.

Hospital admissions in England where the primary diagnosis was drug-related mental or behavioural disorders have fallen, from 7,584 in 1996-97 to 6,743 in 2006-07.

However, hospital admissions in England where the primary diagnosis was poisoning due to drugs have increased, from 7,057 in 1996-97 to 10,047 in 2006-07. The number of people accessing structured drug treatment services has also risen, from 85,000 in 1998-99 to 195,464 in 2006-07.

Information Centre chief executive Tim Straughan said: "This bulletin paints a picture of wide discrepancy between the number of men who take, are treated, or even die from drug use compared with the number of women.

"The fact more than 1,500 people died due to drug use in 2006 is extremely saddening in itself, but the fact so many of these deaths are male raises many questions about gender and drug misuse."

A full copy of the report is at www.ic.nhs.uk