Economic Costs - Table 5.6

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The Science of Drug Abuse and Addiction from the National Institute on Drug Abuse

The Economic Costs of Alcohol and Drug Abuse in the United States - 1992

Table 5.6

Economic Cost of Mortalities Due to Drug Abuse, for Various Discount Rates, 1992

Cause of Death, by ICD-9 Code	ICD-9 Code	Total Deaths	Attributable to Drug Abuse		Discounted Economic Impact (millions of dollars)
Cause	ICD-9 Code	Total Deaths	Percent	Number	3%	4%	6%
Direct Primary Causes
Drug psychoses	292	13	100	13	6.7	5.9	4.7
Drug dependence	304	309	100	309	255.1	224.8	180.8
Nondependent abuse of drugs	305.2-305.9	777	100	777	618.8	544.6	437.1
Drug withdrawal syndrome in newborn	779.5	6	100	6	4.3	2.9	1.5
Accidental overdose of psychoactive drugs
Opiates and related narcotics	E850.0	1,279	100	1,279	1,130.9	992.5	792.4
Aromatic analgesics, not elsewhere classified	E850.2	69	100	69	36.7	32.2	25.9
Other non-narcotic analgesics	E850.7	0	100	0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Other	E850.8	167	100	167	151.7	132.6	105.2
Unspecified analgesics and antipyretics	E850.9	2	100	2	1.9	1.7	1.4
Barbiturates	E851	21	100	21	13.3	11.6	9.3
Other sedatives and hypnotics	E852	11	100	11	7.6	6.6	5.3
Tranquilizers	E853	65	100	65	39.6	34.9	28.1
Other psychotropic agents (incl. antidepressants)	E854	269	100	269	197.7	171.4	134.6
Other drugs acting on the central and autonomic nervous system	E855	1,113	100	1,113	1,009.4	877.3	689.6
Agricultural and horticultural chemical and pharmaceutical preparations other than plant foods and fertilizers	E863	18	100	18	9.9	8.4	6.3
Accidental Overdose of Drugs and Medicaments
Salicylates	E850.1	56	100	56	23.5	20.5	16.3
Pyrazole derivatives	E850.3	2	100	1	0.9	0.9	0.8
Antirheumatics	E850.4	3	100	2	1.8	1.5	1.2
Other non-narcotic analgesics	E850.5	79	100	79	60.8	53.5	42.9
Accidental poisoning by antibiotics	E856	55	100	55	15.3	13.3	10.6
Accidental poisoning by other anti-infectives	E857	5	100	5	3.1	2.7	2.2
Hormones and synthetic substitutes	E858.0	18	100	18	5.7	5.1	4.2
Primarily systemic agents	E858.1	44	100	44	21.3	18.2	14.0
Agents primarily affecting blood constituents	E858.2	33	100	33	13.0	9.9	6.4
Agents primarily affecting cardiovascular system	E858.3	218	100	218	16.8	14.9	12.2
Agents primarily affecting gastrointestinal system	E858.4	3	100	3	1.0	0.9	0.8
Water mineral and uric acid metabolism drugs	E858.5	75	100	75	13.6	11.8	9.4
Agents primarily acting on the smooth and skeletal muscles and respiratory system	E858.6	8	100	8	3.7	3.1	2.4
Agents primarily affecting skin and mucous membrane, ophthalmological, otorhinolaryngological, dental drugs	E858.7	7	100	7	1.0	1.0	0.9
Other specified drugs	E858.8	1,328	100	1,328	1,133.0	993.6	792.5
Unspecified drug	E858.9	1,021	100	1,021	855.1	749.6	597.3
Heroin, methadone, other opiates and related narcotics, and other drugs causing adverse effects in therapeutic use	E935.0-E935.2 E937-E940	27	100	27	5.4	4.8	3.9
Injury Undetermined Whether Accidental or Purposely Inflicted
Analgesics, antipyretics, and antirheumatics	E980.0	491	100	491	404.7	355.0	283.4
Barbiturates	E980.1	13	100	13	9.3	8.1	6.5
Other sedatives and hypnotics	E980.2	8	100	8	6.0	5.3	4.2
Tranquilizers and other psychotropic agents	E980.3	159	100	159	109.9	96.5	77.3
Other specified drugs and medicinal substances	E980.4	478	100	478	405.1	352.9	278.6
Unspecified drug or medicinal substance	E980.5	252	100	252	201.0	176.6	141.3
Other and unspecified solid and liquid substances	E980.9	63	100	63	45.1	39.4	31.3
Homicide and injury purposely inflicted by other persons	E960-E969	25,144	10	2,514	2,239.2	1,893.7	1,426.6
Other Causes
Tuberculosis	010-018	1,705	4.5	77	21.2	19.0	15.7
Hepatitis C	See discussion	4,500	20	900	819.4	698.2	532.0
Hepatitis B	See discussion	9,000	30	2,700	2,438.3	2,077.9	1,583.9
AIDS	See discussion	33,566	32	10,737	8,958.2	7,849.1	6,254.3
Total				25,493	21,316.3	18,524.6	14,574.9

Sources: Attribution factors: Gottshalk et al. (1977); analysis by The Lewin Group, Chu et al (1993), Alter et al. (1990a); number of deaths: National Center for Health Statistics (1996b); NCHS Public Use ICD-9 Data Tape (age and gender distribution for deaths by ICD code for 1991); economic costs: Rice (1997), personal communication. Present discounted values for 3 percent were estimated based on values for 2 percent and 4 percent, respectively.
Notes: Components may not sum to totals because of rounding.

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