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Aims. To determine mortality rates and immediate causes of death in a cohort of heroin addicts, and to compare them with other European samples. Design. Longitudinal follow‐up study of a cohort for 10.5 years (March/July 1985–December 1995). Setting. Catalonia, Spain. Participants. One hundred and thirtyfive heroin addicts. Measurements. (a) Number of total and annual events; (b) annual mortality rate; (c) average annual mortality rate; and (d) standardized mortality ratio (SMR). Kaplan–Meier (log rank test) was used to assess the predictive factors. Findings. During this period, 41 heroin addicts died (30%), the average annual mortality rate was 3.4% and the SMR was 28.5. The most frequent causes of death fell in ICD‐9 chapter III (which includes AIDS) (51%) and in chapter XVII (which includes overdose) (30%). Neither the socio‐demographic characteristics nor the history of heroin consumption were predictors of survival or cause of death. Conclusions. Compared to other European studies, the cohort in the EMETYST project has the highest SMR and members have a higher chance of dying due to AIDS. The predictors of survival in the long term must be interpreted with caution, with the exceptions of being HIV positive or being diagnosed with AIDS.

Objective: To analyse scientific literature on drug dependence (DD). Method: Spanish articles about DD published in 1976- 2000 as indexed by PsycINFO were analysed, and compared with the rest of European Union (EU) countries in 2000. Results and Discussion: PsycINFO is useful to compare countries because it includes the name of institution and country. The number of publications on DD from EU and Spain increased between 1976 and 2000. The Spanish scientific production on DD has increased more than that of the EU. 501 references of Spain and 4,324 of the other 14 EU countries were collected. From 1990, the Spanish production stands for about 10% of that of the EU. EU articles were published in 13 languages and those from Spain in three: Spanish, English and French. Apart from English, Spanish was the only language with an increase in use. EU works were published in 521 journals and those from Spain in 100; in both cases, they tended to concentrate in journals specialised in DD and psychiatry. Foreign journals that published more articles by Spanish authors have a high impact factor. In 1996-2000, the collaboration index of authors was 3.24 in the EU and 3.49 in Spain. The Autonomous Communities with more production were Catalonia, Madrid, Galicia, and Andalucia. The University was the most represented institution, followed by hospitals and alcohol and drug addiction treatment centres.