Drug-related deaths between 2002 and 2013 with accent to methadone and benzodiazepines

Abstract Aim The aim of the study is to assess the trends of overdose and drug related fatalities in the Republic of Macedonia during the 11 years. Material and methods Cross-sectional retrospective survey and reviewed of postmortem toxicological analyses which examined fatal poisonings with illegal drugs in years 2002–2013. Information about gender, age, drug consumption, reported years were analyzed. Narcotics were confirmed with toxicological semi quantitative fluorescence polarization immunoassay ( FPIA ) in urine (range 250–4000 ng/ml). Results Total of 165 deaths were observed. Out of them 145 (87.9%) were male. There is statistical significant differences between male and female DRD due to age (Mann–Whitney U Test = 925, Z = −2626, p = 0.0087). For p  Conclusions Death cause analysis reveals the difficulties in determining the role of substitution drugs, as many other factors may be involved. The findings also highlight the importance of further enhancing treatment interventions for benzodiazepine misuse among patients on methadone substitution treatment.