{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,23]],"date-time":"2025-12-23T19:01:20Z","timestamp":1766516480793,"version":"3.48.0"},"reference-count":11,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"6466","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[1985,2,9]],"date-time":"1985-02-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":476755200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/www.bmj.com\/company\/legal-information\/terms-conditions\/legal-information\/tdm-licencepolicy"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Br Med J (Clin Res Ed)"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[1985,2,9]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>A search of the Home Office index of notified drug addicts identified 1499 deaths during 1967-81, of which 226 (15%) were of therapeutic addicts--that is, patients who had become addicted during medical treatment with a notifiable drug--and 1273 (85%) were of non-therapeutic addicts. The crude mortality fell from 23.5\/1000\/year for the period 1968-70 to 18.4\/1000\/year for 1978-80. Altogether 416 addicts aged under 50 at notification died after 1972, which was 16 times the number of deaths expected in a population with a similar age and sex composition. A more detailed examination of the cohorts of addicts notified each year showed little variation between them in the first two years of follow up. Nineteen addicts (1.6%) had died by 31 December of the year of their notification and 39 (3.3%) one year later. These figures may be an indication of the clinical course of addiction. Most deaths of non-therapeutic addicts in which a drug was implicated (939 cases (74%] were due to medically prescribed drugs--barbiturates at first and later opiates such as dipipanone hydrochloride and dextromoramide. Heroin was implicated in only 65 (7%) of these deaths. The Home Office index is a valuable source for identifying drugs of abuse and serious problems of addiction. The fact that prescribed drugs are causing the death of so many addicts demands a response from the medical profession.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.290.6466.425","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2009,4,2]],"date-time":"2009-04-02T11:00:59Z","timestamp":1238670059000},"page":"425-428","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":58,"title":["Deaths of drug addicts in the United Kingdom 1967-81."],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"290","author":[{"given":"A H","family":"Ghodse","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"M","family":"Sheehan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"C","family":"Taylor","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"G","family":"Edwards","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[1985,2,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"1742","article-title":"Mortality among addicts in greater London","volume":"ii:","author":"Ghodse, A.H.; Sheehan, M.; Stevens, B.; Taylor, C.; Edwards, G.","year":"1978","unstructured":"Ghodse AH, Sheehan M, Stevens B, Taylor C, Edwards G. Mortality among addicts in greater London. Br Med_J 1978;ii:1742-4.","journal-title":"Br Med_J"},{"key":"ref_2","article-title":"Estimating the prevalence of heroin use in a community. In: Special action office for drug abuse prevention. Washington DC: executive office of the president","author":"Greene, M.H.","year":"1974","unstructured":"Greene MH. Estimating the prevalence of heroin use in a community. In: Special action office for drug abuse prevention. Washington DC: executive office of the president, 1974. (Special action monograph series A, No 4.)"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"239","DOI":"10.1016\/0376-8716(81)90095-8","article-title":"Drug related mortality in an inner city area","volume":"7","author":"Harvey, J.G.","year":"1981","unstructured":"Harvey JG. Drug related mortality in an inner city area. Drug Alcohol Depend 1981;7:239-47.","journal-title":"Drug Alcohol Depend"},{"key":"ref_4","first-page":"95","article-title":"Guidelines for the control of narcotic and psychotropic substances in the context of the international treaties","year":"1984","unstructured":"Rexed B, Edmondson K, Khan 1, Samson RJ. Guidelines for the control of narcotic and psychotropic substances in the context of the international treaties. Geneva: World Health Organisation, 1984:95-6."},{"key":"ref_5","first-page":"173","article-title":"Drug abuser deaths","volume":"78","author":"Spear, H.B.","year":"1983","unstructured":"Spear HB. Drug abuser deaths. Br7 Addict 1983;78:173-8."},{"key":"ref_6","first-page":"25","article-title":"The Home Office index as a basic monitoring system","volume-title":"problems in Britain: a review of ten years","author":"Edwards, G.","year":"1981","unstructured":"Edwards G. The Home Office index as a basic monitoring system. In: Edwards G, Busch C, eds. Drug problems in Britain: a review of ten years. London: Academic Press, 1981:25-50."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"636","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(83)91804-4","article-title":"Treatment of drug addiction in London","volume":"i:","author":"Ghodse, A.H.","year":"1983","unstructured":"Ghodse AH. Treatment of drug addiction in London. Lancet 1983;i:636-9.","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_8","first-page":"725","article-title":"Morbidity and mortality from heroin dependence. I. Survey of heroin addicts known to Home","volume":"i:","year":"1968","unstructured":"Bewley TH, Ben-Arie 0, James IP. Morbidity and mortality from heroin dependence. I. Survey of heroin addicts known to Home Office. Br Med J 1968;i: 725-6.","journal-title":"Office. Br Med J"},{"key":"ref_9","first-page":"117","article-title":"Longitudinal studies of drug dependence","volume-title":"problems in Britain: a review of ten years","author":"Thorley, A.","year":"1981","unstructured":"Thorley A. Longitudinal studies of drug dependence. In: Edwards G, Busch C, eds. Drug problems in Britain: a review of ten years. London: Academic Press, 1981:117-69. (Accepted 8 November 1984)"},{"key":"ref_10","unstructured":"The epidemiological characteristics of platelet aggregability were established in 958 participants in the Northwick Park Heart Study. The main analyses were based on the dose of adenosine diphosphate at which primary aggregation occurred at half its maximum velocity. Aggregability increased with age in both sexes, was greater in whites than blacks (particularly among men), and tended to decrease with the level of habitual alcohol consumption. Aggregability was, however, greater in women than men and in nonsmokers than smokers. There was no relation between aggregability on the one hand and obesity, current or past oral contraceptive use, menopausal state, or blood cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations on the other. Aggregability was somewhat, though not significantly, higher in men with a history of ischaemic heart disease and in those with electrocardiographic evidence of ischaemia than in those without. There was a strong association between the plasma fibrinogen concentration and aggregability.","article-title":"The epidemiological characteristics of platelet aggregability were established in 958 participants in the Northwick Park Heart Study. The main analyses were based on the dose of adenosine diphosphate at which primary aggregation occurred at half its maximum velocity. Aggregability increased with age in both sexes, was greater in whites than blacks (particularly among men), and tended to decrease with the level of habitual alcohol consumption. Aggregability was, however, greater in women than men and in nonsmokers than smokers. There was no relation between aggregability on the one hand and obesity, current or past oral contraceptive use, menopausal state, or blood cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations on the other. Aggregability was somewhat, though not significantly, higher in men with a history of ischaemic heart disease and in those with electrocardiographic evidence of ischaemia than in those without. There was a strong association between the plasma fibrinogen concentration and aggregability"},{"key":"ref_11","unstructured":"The role of platelets in thrombosis has been the subject of numerous studies for many years, especially over the past two decades. There is, however, no established measure of in vivo platelet function by which those at high risk of thrombosis can be characterised. In 1962 Born described a method for studying platelet aggregation that was based on changes in the optical density of a suspension of platelets.' 2 This method, or modifications of it, has since been widely used in laboratory and clinical studies on the assumption that ready aggregability is an index of susceptibility to thrombosis. Here we describe the epidemiological characteristics of platelet aggregability seen in the Northwick Park Heart Study, a prospective study of the role of the haemostatic system in the pathogenesis of arterial disease.","article-title":"The role of platelets in thrombosis has been the subject of numerous studies for many years, especially over the past two decades. There is, however, no established measure of in vivo platelet function by which those at high risk of thrombosis can be characterised. In 1962 Born described a method for studying platelet aggregation that was based on changes in the optical density of a suspension of platelets.' 2 This method, or modifications of it, has since been widely used in laboratory and clinical studies on the assumption that ready aggregability is an index of susceptibility to thrombosis. Here we describe the epidemiological characteristics of platelet aggregability seen in the Northwick Park Heart Study, a prospective study of the role of the haemostatic system in the pathogenesis of arterial disease"}],"container-title":["BMJ"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"http:\/\/data.bmj.org\/tdm\/10.1136\/bmj.290.6466.425","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/syndication.highwire.org\/content\/doi\/10.1136\/bmj.290.6466.425","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,12]],"date-time":"2025-12-12T12:48:28Z","timestamp":1765543708000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/lookup\/doi\/10.1136\/bmj.290.6466.425"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[1985,2,9]]},"references-count":11,"journal-issue":{"issue":"6466","published-online":{"date-parts":[[1985,2,9]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[1985,2,9]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1136\/bmj.290.6466.425"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/bmj.290.6466.425","relation":{},"ISSN":["0267-0623","1468-5833"],"issn-type":[{"type":"print","value":"0267-0623"},{"type":"electronic","value":"1468-5833"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[1985,2,9]]}}}