Rising inequality during the 1980s increased the risk of drug-related deaths among members of "Generation X" in Scotland, a new study has found. The new analysis was carried out by NHS Health Scotland and Glasgow University.
Researchers found the "social, economic and political contexts of the 1980s" may have caused an increase in drug deaths in the following years. They found links to gender and deprivation - young men in poor neighbourhoods were found to be 10 times as likely to die from drugs as women of the same age from a more affluent area. Similar patterns had previously been reported about the risk of suicide in deprived areas.
Dr Jon Minton, a quantitative research associate at Glasgow University, said his analysis was "consistent with the hypothesis that economic and other policy decisions during the 1980s created rising income inequality, the erosion of hope amongst those who were least resilient and able to adjust, and resulted in a delayed negative health impact. The same kind of pattern we have observed and reported on previously regarding the risk of suicide in vulnerable cohorts in deprived areas in Scotland is repeated, and even more clearly visible, when looking at trends in drug-related death risk. For people born in 1960s and 70s, the risk of drug-related deaths throughout the life course was much increased, and gender and area inequalities in these risks increased even more. The similarity in trends in both suicide and drug-related deaths suggests a common underlying cause."
A similar pattern occurred elsewhere in the UK.
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