Table 1.
Deaths of opiate/opioid misusers involving dihydrocodeine UK, 1997–2007. Victims' basic socio-demographics and comparisons between accidental and intentional death subgroups (*)
| Number of valid cases (n = 584) | Accidental (n = 509) | Intentional (n = 75) | Total | Chi square (two-tailed) | P† | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gender | 584 | |||||
| Male | 407 (80.0%) | 52 (69.3%) | 459 (78.6%) | χ2 = 4.389 | 0.036 | |
| Female | 102 (20.0%) | 23 (30.7%) | 125 (21.4%) | |||
| Ethnicity | 512 | |||||
| White | 438 (97.8%) | 59 (92.2%) | 497 (97.1%) | χ2 = 6.132 | 0.013† | |
| Other | 10 (2.2%) | 5 (7.8%) | 15 (2.9%) | |||
| Employment status | 544 | |||||
| Unemployment; inability to work; sickness | 355 (75.2%) | 47 (65.3%) | 402 (73.9%) | χ2 = 3.196 | 0.074 | |
| Employed or other defined working condition | 117 (24.8%) | 25 (34.7%) | 140 (26.1%) | |||
| Living arrangements | 543 | |||||
| Alone/other | 263 (55.3%) | 32 (47.8%) | 293 (54.3%) | χ2 = 1.328 | 0.249 | |
| With others | 213 (44.7%) | 35 (52.2%) | 248 (45.7%) | |||
| Mean age (SD) (years) | 584 | 35.3 (9.5) | 38.8 (11.2) | 35.8 (9.8) min = 16.0; max = 70.7 | t=−2.858 | 0.013 |
Bold figures are statistically significant.
*
All subjects here described had a clear history of opiate/opioid misuse; t = Student's t-test; χ2 = chi-squared test
†
= Fisher's correction.