Scottish Public Health Observatory quarterly update
September 2025

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 Drugs and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease pages contain new data.

Main points

Drugs:

Health Harm: Maternity and Neonatal Discharges - Births in Scotland

• In 2023/24, drug use was recorded in 1.9% (834) of 44,383 maternities in Scotland, approximately the same as in 2022/23 (1.8%).
• The drugs most often recorded as being used during pregnancy were cannabis (11.6 per 1,000 maternities), cocaine (3.1 per 1,000 maternities) and opiates (2.5 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 2023/24, 0.2% (104) of a total of 44,835 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 2.3 per 1,000 live births in 2023/24.

Social Harm: Drug-related criminal proceedings in Scotland

• In 2022/23, there were 3,066 people convicted in cases where a drug offence was the main charge. Of these, 49% were for Class A drugs (e.g. cocaine, ecstasy, heroin), 37% 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.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease:

• The incidence of COPD in Scotland (measured using hospital admissions data and death records) decreased between 2023/24 and 2024/25 for both females (116.4 cases per 100,000 population) and males (106.1 cases per 100,000 population). Incidence has been higher in females since 2022/23, with the gap widening over the past year. Incidence remains 10-20% lower than prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in both sexes.
• Annual mortality due to COPD increased in 2023 for both females (+6.6%) and males (+11.5%), before decreasing in 2024 for both females (-3.0%) and males (-9.4%).

The following topics on the ScotPHO website have also been updated as part of the September 2025 quarterly website update.

Comparative Health:

• Excess Mortality in Scotland and Glasgow

Health Conditions:

• Diabetes
• Mental Health

Population Groups:

• Religion, Spirituality and Belief
• Children and Young People
• Prisoners

Risk Factors:

• Drugs
• High Blood Pressure
• Physical Activity

Wider Determinants.

• Crime and Violence

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 a reduction in health inequalities and to inform health improvement in Scotland.

Further information

Data from this publication are available from the publication page of the ScotPHO website. 

The next release of these statistics will be 16 December 2025.