Drug Misuse Statistics Scotland 2007	< Previous | Contents | Next >
C3 Information from general practice Practice Team Information is a system that collects morbidity data from general medical practices in Scotland. Data are collected from a sample of practices covering 5% of the Scottish population and include every face-to-face doctor-patient consultation. This sample is broadly representative of the Scottish population in terms of age, sex, deprivation and urban/rural mix and allows estimates to be produced for Scotland. Key Points Overview In 2005/06, around 1% (158,100) of the estimated 14,729,700 consultations (face-to-face contacts) between patients and GPs related to drug misuse (Table C3.1). The average number of GP consultations per year for all patients attending was 3.7. For those with a diagnosis of drug misuse, the average number of drug misuse GP consultations per year was 4.7 (Table C3.1). More males than females consult their GP for drug related problems (nearing 2:1) although overall, more females than males consult their GP (Table C3.2). Sixty-nine percent of patients attending a GP for a drug misuse consultation were within the 25 to 44 years old age group. Twenty-four percent were in the 15 to 24 years old age group. In contrast, 28% of patients consulting a GP for any reason were in the 25 to 44 years old age group and 13% were in the 15 to 24 years old age group (Table C3.2). For both men and women, aged 15 to 44 years old and with a drug misuse diagnosis, depression and anxiety disorders were the top two most common co-morbidities. Of male drug misuse patients, 16.7% also had a diagnosis of depression compared with 6.1% of non-drug misuse patients. Among females, 28.4% of drug misuse patients also had a diagnosis of depression compared with 10.3% of non-drug misuse patients (Table C3.3). Among males, drug misusing patients were over four times more likely to have a diagnosis of alcohol misuse with 8.7% of drug misusing patients having this diagnosis compared to 2% of non-drug misusing patients. Alcohol misuse did not feature in the top ten most common co-morbidities for females but was the fifth most common co-morbidity for males (Table C3.3). The drug misuse GP consultation rate increased as deprivation increased. The GP consultation rate per 1,000 practice population in deprivation category five (most deprived) was over ten times greater than that of category one (most affluent), 74.0 GP consultations per 1,000 practice population compared to 7.0 per 1,000 practice population. (Table C3.4) Of the estimated number of drug misuse GP consultations, 75% were by patients in the two most deprived categories. Among non-drug misuse GP consultations, 43% were in the two most deprived categories. (Table C3.4). Three year trends – 2003/04 to 2005/06 The rate of patients attending a GP in General Practice with a diagnosis of drug misuse has remained stable from 8.6 per 1,000 patients attending in 2003/04, 8.7 per 1,000 patients in 2004/05 and 8.4 per 1 000 patients attending in 2005/06. (Table C3.1) The rate of drug misuse GP consultations per 1,000 GP consultations has also remained relatively stable over the past three years from 10.9 per 1,000 consultations in 2003/04, increasing to 11.4 per 1,000 consultations in 2004/05 and decreasing back to 10.7 per 1 000 consultations in 2005/06. (Table C3.1). Background information Practice Team Information (PTI) is a system for the collection of primary care data from the general practice team, including General Practitioners, practice and community nurses. This system developed from Continuous Morbidity Recording (CMR) which collected data from contacts between GP and patient only. Data are collected from every face-to-face contact between a patient and a member of the practice team. Currently there are around 60 PTI practices collecting data in Scotland which contribute to the PTI sample. The selected practices involved are broadly representative of the Scottish population in terms of age, gender, deprivation and urban/rural mix. This allows the data collected to be extrapolated to Scotland.  Following a substantial review of PTI data and subsequent revisions to the methodology for all PTI analyses, direct comparisons with figures produced prior to 27th March 2007 are not valid. Further information can be found on the PTI website at: http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/4724.html. Analysis & Definitions The analysis is based on data from the sample of practices in each individual year for which complete data were available, for the years 2003/04 to 2005/06. It is important to note that the information presented in this section of the publication does not give a measure of how prevalent drugs misuse is in the community. It does, however, give an insight into some of the characteristics of those who misuse drugs and present to a GP. For PTI, the diagnosis of drug misuse has been identified using the following set of Read codes: Read code Read code description Read code Read code description 13c.. Drug user 8FB0. Drug detox programme completed 1P30. Compul uncontrollable drug tak 9HC.. Substance misuse monitoring 1P31. Compulsive drug taking E02.. Drug psychoses 1P6.. Craving for drugs E24.. Drug dependence 63C6. Maternal drug abuse E25.. Nondependent abuse of drugs 68U.. Drugs of abuse screening Eu1.. [X]Mental dis, psychoact subst 8B23. Drug addiction therapy SL501 Heroin poisoning 8B2N. Drug add detox ther methadone SL502 Methadone poisoning 8B2P. Drug add maint ther methadone SL50z Opiate/narcotic poisoning NOS 8B2Q. Drug add maint ther buprenorph SL850 Cocaine poisoning 8B2R. Drug add detox ther buprenorph SL96. Hallucinogen poisoning 8BA9. Detoxification dependence drug SL97. Psychostimulant poisoning 8Bad. Opiate dependence detoxificat. SL9y Other psychotropic poisoning 8FB.. Drug rehabilitatio. SL9z Psychotropic agent poison.NOS Interpretation of trend data Caution must be exercised in interpreting data on trends. Although PTI is generally representative in terms of age, sex, deprivation and urban/rural mix, it may not be as representative in terms of numbers of patients with drug misuse. This is because there can be wide variation in numbers of drug misusing patients in different practices. Further information Information about Practice Team Information data collection and statistics is available at http://www.isdscotland.org/isd/1044.html If you would like further information on PTI and drug misuse please contact the Substance Misuse Information Strategy Team at substancemisuse@isd.csa.scot.nhs.uk