Table 1.
Epidemiological indicators for people who use drugs being used at European Union level
| Domain | Indicators | Countries, out of 30, reporting in 2011–2015b | Data type | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prevalence of drug use in the general populationa | Prevalence of lifetime use, last year use, last month use | 25 | % | Representative (household) surveys with breakdowns by drug, age, gender, complemented by school surveys in 15-16 year old students (ESPAD) http://www.espad.org/ |
| High-risk drug use/problem drug usea,c | Population size estimates of high-risk PWUD including hidden populations (all, opioids, stimulants, PWID) | 25 | Rate/1000 | Confidence intervals, estimation methods |
| Treatment demanda | Clients entering treatment | 30 | Counts | Breakdowns by ever previously treated, treatment type, prison, main drug, sex, age at treatment, age at first use, referral source, living status, education, labour status, route of administration, frequency of use |
| Overdose deathsa | Number of deaths, average age | 30 | Counts | Breakdowns by gender, toxicology, ICD code |
| Infectious diseasesa | Notifications and prevalence of HIV/AIDS, HBV, HCV among PWID | Prevalence: HIV 29 HCV 25, HBV 18–16; notifications: HIV/AIDS 30/29 | Counts, % | Prevalence among young and new PWID |
| Seizures of drugs | Number, quantity in kg | 28, 30 | Counts, weights | Seizures by drug class, cannabis plants, tablets/doses |
| Price, purity/potency | Price, potency/purity | 29, 29 | Euro/g, % (%THC)e | Sample size, summary statistics, composition (% MDMAd/(meth)amphetamines) |
| Drug use in prison | Prevalence of lifetime use, last year use, last month use | 10 | % | Breakdowns by: before/in prison, drug class |
| Drug law offences | Number of: offences, offenders, either | 25, 21, 30 | Counts | Breakdowns by type (use, supply), drug class |
aFive ‘key epidemiological indicators’. Available at http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/data/stats2016
bYear of reporting data to EMCDDA–the actual study year (year of primary data collection) is mostly 1 year earlier
cThis key indicator has been renamed from ‘Problem Drug Use’ (definition: ‘injecting drug use or long duration/regular use of opiates, cocaine and/or amphetamines’) to ‘High Risk Drug Use’ (definition: ‘recurrent drug use that is causing actual harms (negative consequences) to the person (including dependence but also other health, psychological or social problems), or is placing the person at a high probability/risk of suffering such harms’). It attempts to define and estimate the population size of those PWUD that are likely to be in need of services due to having (a high risk of) negative consequences from their drug use, such as PWID or people who use opioids
d3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (‘ecstasy’)
eTetrahydrocannabinol