Mortality in people who use illicit opioids in England

People who use illicit opioids have a high risk of premature mortality, with a mortality rate ten times that of the general population. However, causes of mortality in this group have changed over time in the UK, alongside an ageing and increasingly comorbid population of drug users. The trend in increasing age among people who use illicit opioid has been suggested to be driving the recent increases in drug-related mortality observed in national surveillance data in England.