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The Burden of Drug Use Disorders

ENLACE DRUG USE DISORDERS TECHNICAL NOTES ABOUT

 

Drug use disorders are among the leading causes of premature mortality and disability in the Region of the Americas. With an increasing trend, regionwide in 2019, drug use disorders ranked as the ninth cause of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), the fifth cause of years lived with disability (YLDs), and the fifteenth cause of years of life lost (YLLs) due to premature mortality. Those deaths and years of healthy life lost caused by drug use disorders are avoidable through public health and preventive interventions, adequate health care and treatments, and prevention and management of the harms associated with drug use, and access to controlled medicines.   

The data visualization presents the level, geographic distribution, and trends over time of the burden of drug use disorders including opioid use disorders, cocaine use disorders, amphetamine use disorders, cannabis use disorders, and other drug disorders by age, sex, year, and countries of the Region the Americas from 2000 to 2019.

Drug use disorders in the Region of the Americas

  • In 2019, drug use disorders accounted for 85,984 deaths in both sexes combined (55,616 in men, and 30,367 in women); representing 47% of the global deaths caused by drug use disorders.
  • The number of deaths in 2019 increased 296% relative to 21,719 deaths in 2000, having North America as the main contributor to this increase.
  • In 2019, the age-standardized death rate was 8.0 deaths per 100,000 population (10.7 deaths per 100,000 population in men, and 5.4 deaths per 100,000 population in women).
  • the age-standardized death rates increased 197% from 2.7 deaths per 100,000 population in 2000 to 8.0 deaths per 100,000 population in 2019.
  • The age-standardized death rates due to drug use disorders vary substantially across countries of the Region, from 21.3 deaths per 100,000 population in the United States to 0.4 deaths per 100,000 population in Barbados.

The 20% of countries with the highest levels of mortality rates in 2019 were:

  1. United States of America
  2. Canada
  3. Bolivia (Plurinational State of)
  4. Guyana
  5. Peru
  6. Guatemala, and
  7. Honduras

The burden of health loss due to drug use disorders

In 2019, drug use disorders were responsible for:

  • 791.2 disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) per 100,000 population, higher in men (973.6 DALYs per 100,000 population) than in women (613.8 DALYs per 100,000 population) 
  • 409.1 years lived with disability (YLDs) per 100,000 population (458.1 YLDs per 100,000 population in men, and 361.5 YLDs per 100,000 population in women) 
  • 332 years of life lost (YLLs) per 100,000 population due to premature deaths (515.5 years per 100,000 population for men, and 252.3 years per 100,000 population for women)

In the Region, the age-standardized DALY rates due to drug use disorders increased 102% from 387.0 DALYs per 100,000 population in 2000 to 782.2 DALYs per 100,000 population in 2019.

In 2019, the top 20% of countries with the highest DALY rates due to drug use disorders were:

  1. United States of America
  2. Canada
  3. Peru
  4. Bolivia (Plurinational State of)
  5. Uruguay
  6. Brazil
  7. Guyana
Suggested citation

Pan American Health Organization. The burden of drug use disorders in the Region of the Americas, 2000-2019. Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health Data Portal. Pan American Health Organization, 2021

DATA CLASSIFICATION

In the map and bar chart, the data is presented in five discrete classes created using the quantile classification method. Each class contains 20% of countries, which is easy to interpret. The quintile classes are labeled sequentially from Quintile 1 as the first quintile including the lowest fifth (0 to 20%) of the data to Quintile 5, the fifth quintile representing the class with the highest fifth (80% to 100%) of the data.

MEASURES

Measure names:

Deaths, Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs), Years Lived with Disability (YLDs), and Years of Life Lost (YLLs) due to diabetes mellitus

Metric: Rate 

Unit of Measure: deaths, DALY, YLD, and YLL per 100,000 population

Topic: Mortality and burden of disease

Rationale: Measuring how many people die each year and why they died is one of the most important means – along with gauging how diseases and injuries are affecting people – for assessing the effectiveness of a country’s health system. Statistics of causes of death and disability help health authorities evaluate and focalize public health actions.

Disaggregation: Age, Sex, Country, and Year

Method of estimation: Mortality estimates by cause, age, sex, location (countries, and the region), and year were extracted from the WHO Global Health Estimates (GHE) 2000-2019. These estimates represent WHO's most recent and best estimates, which were computed using standard categories, definitions, and methods to ensure cross-country comparability, and may not be the same as official national estimates. 

Methodological details:

Data sources and methods for estimating causes of deaths and burden of diseases are described in the following documents:

Method of estimation of global and regional aggregates: Global, regional and subregional aggregates were computed by summing the absolute number of the measure (deaths, DALYs, YLDs, YLL) as the numerator and summing the population estimates from the World Population Prospect, produced by the UN Population Division, as denominators for all countries included in the geographic region or subregion. Rates were computed by dividing the aggregated numerator and aggregated population and multiplying the result y 100,000 population. Age-standardized rates were computed by the direct method using the World Standard Population. 

Preferred data sources: Civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) system with complete coverage and medical certification of cause of death.

  1. WHO. WHO methods and data sources for country-level causes of death 2000-2019. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2020. Available online (accessed 1 February 2021).
  2. WHO. WHO methods and data sources for global burden of disease estimates, 2000-2019. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2020. Available online (accessed 1 February 2021).
  3. PAHO. Methodological Notes, NMH Data Portal. Pan American Health Organization. 2021.
  4. WHO. Resources for substance use disorders. The Global Health Observatory, World Health Organization, 2021. Available online (accessed 6 October 2021)

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