Death rates and causes of death in cohorts of serum hepatitis patients followed up for more than 20 years

A cohort of 214 drug addicts with serum hepatitis and a cohort of 193 hepat itis patients without drug addiction were examined in respect of death rate s, causes of death and a number of risk factors for reduced survival. The d eath rate was significantly higher among the drug addicts than among non-ad dicts. The annual mortality rate was 1.5% in the drug addict group and 0.7 % in the non-addict group. The highest relative risk of death was 860 for f emale drug addicts in age group 15-24 compared to females of the same age i n the general population The most prevalent cause of death in the drug addi ct group was drug overdose (53 %), whereas in the other group 66 % died fro m various somatic diseases. Hepatitis or complications of viral hepatitis p layed no role as cause of death among the drug addicts, and infections as a whole were also responsible for very few deaths. For male drug addicts, im prisonment before admission and leaving hospital without the doctors' permi ssion were risk factors for early death.