Temporal Trends in the Burden of Drug Use Disorders in East and Southeast Asian Countries And Territories from 1990 to 2021: Findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

The authors analysed temporal trends in incidence, prevalence, and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) of DUDs by drug categories at regional and national levels in East and South-East Asia. Additionally, the authors calculated the estimated annual percentage change (EAPC) of incidence and prevalence and employed age-period-cohort (APC) modelling to estimate the independent effects of age, period, and cohort.

For DALY trends, amphetamine use disorder DALYs were highest in China before 1998 and in Thailand after that. Cannabis use disorder DALYs were consistently highest in Seychelles, cocaine use disorder DALYs remained stable with Brunei highest and opioid use disorder DALYs were highest in China until 2006 and in Taiwan subsequently. Incidence and prevalence trends were similar across regions, with Thailand having the highest for amphetamine use disorders, stable and higher trends for cannabis use disorder, stable trends for cocaine use disorder, and dramatic changes for opioid use disorder, peaking in China and Taiwan in 2005.