The number of people who die from poisoning is increasing again after decreasing during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021.
The most obvious is the increase for drugs used for sleep disorders, new statistics from the Swedish Medical Agency show.
– What stands out is the increase in sleeping pills, says Carl Söderberg, forensic physician and clinical pharmacologist at the authority’s department for forensic genetics and forensic chemistry.
In 2021, 723 people died from poisoning from either medicines or drugs, which was another decrease from 2020.
Breaks the trend
Now that trend is being broken. Last year, 814 people died in Sweden as a result of poisoning, according to data from the Swedish Medicines Agency.
– Now we are at the same level as in 2018 and 2019, before the pandemic years, says Carl Söderberg.
Opioids belong to the group of substances with the most deaths, a situation Sweden shares with the rest of Europe and the USA according to Carl Söderberg.
The number of deaths linked to methadone, heroin and oxycodone has increased between 2021 and 2022. Oxycodone led to the most deaths last year.
Sleeping pills wear off
Among the ten most common substances that are behind the deaths, an increase is seen for almost all of them compared to 2021. The exception is tramadol, where the number of poisonings has decreased slightly – from 61 to 51.
However, what stands out in the figures for 2022 is the increase in fatal poisonings linked to sleeping pills, according to the Swedish Forensic Medicine Agency.
– If you look at poisonings as a whole, we have an increase of around 10-15 percent between 2021 and 2022. But if you look at sleeping pills, they have increased more in percentage terms. We have an increase of almost 50 percent on zopiclone, says Carl Söderberg.
In absolute terms, this means an increase from 58 deaths in 2021 to 85 for 2022.
“Pattern that breaks”
The Norwegian Forensic Medicine Agency currently has no information on the causes of the poisonings, for example whether it was a suicide or an accident.
– They (zopiclone and propiomazine reds note) have increased to numbers that were higher than the years before the pandemic, so there is a bit of a pattern breaking. But it is a little too early to say what it is due to.
It is also difficult to draw any major conclusions about the total number of deaths for a specific year. According to Carl Söderberg, additional evidence is needed to be able to possibly point to specific factors.
– This is a bit of a turning point, the first full year where we were out of the pandemic. If that is what affects the numbers or if it is something else, we will know a little more next year, he says.
FACTS Deaths linked to medicines or drugs
Number of poisonings for the ten most common medicines or drugs assessed as contributing to the death, and where the substance was detected in the blood.
2022 (figure for 2021 in brackets):
Oxycodone: 108 (100)
Buprenorphine: 95 (89)
Alprazolam: 91 (78)
Zopiclone: 85 (58)
Heroin: 78 (67)
Alimemazine: 73 (63)
Propiomazine: 65 (42)
Methadone 57 (40)
Amphetamine: 52 (41)
Tramadol: 51 (61)
The figures are based on the cause of death certificate and/or autopsy report and several substances may have contributed to the same death.
The National Board of Health and Welfare also provides statistics on the number of deaths linked to drug and drug poisoning (860 deaths). That figure is slightly higher than the figure from the Swedish Medical Examiner’s Office, which depends, among other things, on which deaths the statistics are based on and which documents are used.
Source: Swedish Forensic Medicine Agency
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