Patterns of substance use and mortality risk in a cohort of ‘hard‐to‐reach’ polysubstance users

Gjersing, Linn; Bretteville-Jensen, Anne Line

doi:10.1111/add.14053

Cited by 57 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…The participants shared characteristics with problematic PWUD in two other Norwegian studies in terms of age, gender, drug use and current OMT (Gjersing and Bretteville-Jensen, 2018;Madah-Amiri et al, 2019). This suggests that our findings may be generalized to persons who use drugs beyond our sample.…”

Section: Strengths and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 51%

COVID-19 survey among people who use drugs in three cities in Norway

Welle-Strand

Clausen

Sundal³

et al. 2020

Drug and Alcohol Dependence

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Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre-including this research content-immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active.

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Section: Strengths and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 51%

COVID-19 survey among people who use drugs in three cities in Norway

Welle-Strand

Clausen

Sundal³

et al. 2020

Drug and Alcohol Dependence

Self Cite

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“…Indeed, according to 2017 data from the Maryland Department of Health, compared to the previous year, a 51% increase in the number of fentanyl related deaths was observed among individuals aged 35–44. Due the heightened risk of mortality, [48] it was further concerning to observe the heavier polysubstance use prior to injection initiation among PWID born after 1980.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rising role of prescription drugs as a portal to injection drug use and associated mortality in Baltimore, Maryland

et al. 2019

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Introduction Prescription drug abuse is a major public health problem in rural and suburban areas of the United States, however its emergence in large urban settings with endemic injection drug use remains understudied. We examined temporal trends in injection drug use initiation and mortality among people who inject drugs (PWID) in Baltimore, Maryland. Methods Data were derived from the baseline assessment of PWID enrolled in a community-based cohort study with longitudinal follow-up for mortality assessment. PWID were recruited from 2005–2008 (N = 1,008) and 2015–2018 (N = 737). We compared characteristics by birth cohort (before/after 1980) and type of drug initiated (prescription opioids, prescription non-opioids, non-injection illicit drugs, or injection drugs). We calculated standardized mortality ratios (SMR) using the US general population as the reference. Results PWID born after 1980 were more likely to initiate drug use with prescription opioids and non-opioids and had higher levels of polysubstance prior to injection initiation, compared to individuals born before 1980. Overall mortality was high: 2.59 per 100 person-years (95% CI: 2.27–2.95 per 100 person-years). Compared to the US population, the highest SMRs were observed among participants between 40–44 years of age, with especially high mortality among women in this age group (SMR:29.89, 95% CI: 15.24–44.54). Conclusions Mirroring national trends, the profile of PWID in Baltimore has changed with increased prescription drug abuse and high levels of polysubstance use among younger PWID. Interventions need to reach those using prescription drugs early after initiation of use in order to reduce transition to injecting. Urgent attention is warranted to address premature mortality, particularly among middle-aged and female PWID.

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“…The psychoactive drugs included in analytical testing were based on self-reported drug injection practices 34 as well as data from the Cause of Death Registry 35 and toxicological testing of autopsy samples from drug-related deaths. 15,36 They included opioids, amphetamines, cocaine, benzodiazepines, and similar drugs.…”

Section: Selecting Drugs For Analytical Testingmentioning

confidence: 99%