Non -fatal overdose among people who inject drugs in Tehran, Iran

Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy

Ladan Fattah Moghaddam¹  Ali Nazeri Astaneh²  Peter Higgs³  Mohammad Askari⁴  Bahram Armoon⁵  Mehdi Noroozi⁶  Azadeh Bayani⁷ 

[1] Department of Nursing, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran;Department of Psychiatry, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Science, Tehran, Iran;Department of Public Health, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia;Pasteur institute of Iran, Tehran, Iran;Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Saveh University of Medical Sciences, Saveh, Iran;Social Determinants of Health Research Center, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran;Student Research Committee, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran;

关键词: Non-fatal;    Overdose;    People who inject drugs;    Methamphetamine;    Alcohol use;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s13011-020-00323-0

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundWith increasing frequencies of non-fatal overdose in people who inject drugs (PWID), it is essential to improve our knowledge about associated risk factors for overdose to inform overdose prevention and assistance programs. The aim of present study was to determine the prevalence of non-fatal overdose and the associated risk factors among PWID in Tehran, Iran.MethodsSnowball sampling was used to collect data from 465 participants in Tehran using a cross-sectional survey. Consenting participants who reported drug injecting in the past month and were able to speak and comprehend Farsi enough to respond to survey questions were interviewed. The endpoint of interest was non-fatal overdose in the previous 6 months, or answering “Yes” to the question: “In the last six months, have you ever overdosed by accident? (at least once)”. We used STATA v. 14 for this analysis. Statistical significance was defined as p < 0.05 for all analyses.ResultsOf 465 PWIDs who participated in this study, all were male, and about half had less than a high school education. The prevalence of self-reported non-fatal overdose in the past 6 months was 38% (CI95%: 34, 43%). Our findings indicate that characteristics and behaviors that were associated with an increased risk of experiencing an overdose in the past 6 months were drug use initiation under 22 years (AOR =2.2, P < 0.05), using methamphetamine (AOR =2.8, P < 0.05), and using multiple drugs at the same time (AOR =2.1, P < 0.05). Also, more recent initiates to injecting (< 2 years) had an increased risk of experiencing an overdose in the past 6 months. The odds of experiencing a non-fatal overdose among PWIDs who regularly attended NSP were 0.6 times less than for those who did not attend regularly (OR = 0.6,95% CI: 0.2–0.9).ConclusionMethamphetamine and alcohol use were the most significant association for non-fatal overdose among PWIDs. Our results indicate that intervention and prevention initiatives seeking to reduce overdoses among PWIDs should not only be focused on the primary drug used but also the use of alcohol and poly-drug use.

【 授权许可】

CC BY