About this release

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) provides the Scottish Public Health Observatory (ScotPHO) quarterly update on a number of topic areas. Of these topics, the Chronic Liver Disease, Drugs and Tobacco Use pages contain new data.

Main points

Chronic Liver Disease:

• There were 17.4 chronic liver disease deaths per 100,000 population in Scotland in 2022.
• In 2022, chronic liver disease death rates were 5.5 times higher in the most deprived areas (37.1 per 100,000 population) compared to the least deprived areas (6.7 per 100,000 population).
• In 2022, male death rates for chronic liver disease were 1.7 times higher than those for females (21.9 compared to 12.9 per 100,000 population).
• In 2022/23, there were 194.1 hospital stays per 100,000 population including a diagnosis of chronic liver disease, a decrease of 1.5% compared to the previous year.

Drugs:

Health Harm: Maternity and Neonatal Discharges - Births in Scotland

• In 2022/23, drug use was recorded in 1.8% (805) of 44,557 maternities in Scotland, approximately the same as in 2021/22 (1.7%).
• The drugs most often recorded as being used during pregnancy were cannabis (10.8 per 1,000 maternities), opiates (2.9 per 1,000 maternities) and cocaine (2.7 per 1,000 maternities). Recorded opiate misuse during pregnancy has consistently decreased over the time series from 9.7 per 1,000 maternities in 2011/12.
• In 2022/23, 0.3% (113) of a total of 45,061 babies born in Scotland were recorded as having been affected by maternal use of drugs. This rate decreased steadily over time from 6.9 per 1,000 live births in 2011/12 to 2.5 per 1,000 live births in 2022/23.

Social Harm: Drug-related criminal proceedings in Scotland

• In 2021/22, there were 2,698 people convicted in cases where a drug offence was the main charge of which 51% were for Class A drugs (e.g. cocaine, ecstasy, heroin), 35% for Class B drugs (e.g. amphetamines, cannabis), 8% for Class C drugs (e.g. anabolic steroids, diazepam) and in 6% of convictions the drug type was unknown.

Tobacco Use:

• Smoking remains a leading cause of preventable disease and premature death. In 2022 smoking accounted for an estimated 8,942 deaths (271 deaths per 100,000 population) in those aged 35 and over in Scotland.
• There was a 31% decrease in the rate of smoking attributable deaths in Scotland between 2003 and 2022.
• In 2022/23, there were an estimated 44,572 smoking-attributable hospital admissions (1,328 admissions per 100,000 population) in Scotland.
• The estimated rate of smoking-attributable admissions decreased by 34% between 2008/09 and 2022/23.

The following topics on the ScotPHO website have also been updated as part of the March 2024 quarterly website update.

Health Conditions:

• Coronary Heart Disease.
• Stroke.

Background

The Scottish Public Health Observatory collaboration is led by PHS and includes the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, National Records of Scotland, the Medical Research Council/Chief Scientist Office Social and Public Health Sciences Unit and the Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory. The aim of the collaboration is to make public health information more accessible, to promote the reduction in inequalities and to inform health improvement in Scotland.

Further information

The Scottish Public Health Observatory collaboration is led by PHS and includes the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, National Records of Scotland, the Medical Research Council/Chief Scientist Office Social and Public Health Sciences Unit and the Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory. The aim of the collaboration is to make public health information more accessible, to promote the reduction in inequalities and to inform health improvement in Scotland.

The next release of this publication will be 25 June 2024.