Premature mortality recorded with mention of substance use disorders in Spain according to death records: Sex- and substance-specific differences.

Authors

José María Rosales-Crespo, Carolina Lagares-Franco, José Almenara-Barrios, Antonio Linares-Cobacho, Cristina O Ferrall González

Published in

Adicciones. Volume 38. Issue 3. Pages 165-174. Sep 30, 2026. Epub Sep 30, 2026.

Abstract

Substance use disorders (SUDs) are a significant cause of premature death, although their impact is often underestimated when only the number of deaths is considered. This study used three premature mortality indicators-Potential Years of Life Lost (PYLL), mean PYLL per death (mPYLL), and life expectancy at death (LE)-to quantify premature mortality with documented mention of substance use disorders on death certificates and to analyze differences by sex and substance type in Spain between 2016 and 2020. A retrospective observational study was conducted using national mortality records from the Spanish National Statistics Institute, including deaths in which an ICD-10 code corresponding to substance use disorders (F10-F19) appeared anywhere on the death certificate. Premature mortality was estimated using PYLL, which represent the years of life not lived relative to an age limit, and mPYLL and LE were also calculated, stratified by sex and substance type. A total of 13,772 deaths with mention of substance use disorders (75.1% in men), accounting for 184,158 PYLL, with a mean of 17.3 years lost per death. Illegal drugs and polydrug use showed higher mPYLL and lower LE values, whereas alcohol and tobacco accounted for a higher overall burden but at older ages. LE was 66.6 years, lower than that of the general population. The findings describe a high burden of premature mortality recorded with mention of substance use disorders, with distinct patterns by sex and substance. The use of indicators such as potential years of life lost may help strengthen epidemiological surveillance and inform prevention and care strategies.

PMID:
42952365
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 29 Oct 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.