Abstract

Background

Injecting alone increases the risk of a fatal overdose. We examined the extent of such behavior in a sample of people who inject drugs (PWID) and the typical characteristics of those injecting alone at least once during the past four weeks.

Design

A cross-sectional study. PWID recruited from the street and from low-threshold services in seven Norwegian cities in September 2017 (n = 359). Associations between characteristics and injecting alone were examined using logistic regression analysis. The independent variables were gender (female/male), age, having received overdose-prevention education (no/yes), and, in the past four weeks; homelessness/shelter use (no/yes), in opioid substitution treatment (no/yes), injecting ≥ four days a week (no/yes), and substances injected (opioids only/opioids and other/other only/central stimulants (CS) only/CS and other/CS and opioids/CS, opioids and other). The adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% Confidence Intervals (CI) were reported.

Findings

Of the 359 PWID, 84.4% reported having injected alone. Males were more likely than females to inject alone (aOR = 1.88 95% CI 1.00-3.54). Furthermore, those injecting frequently (aOR = 1.99 95% CI 1.02-3.86) and those injecting multiple substances (CS, opioids and other) (aOR = 2.94 95% CI 1.01-8.58) were more likely to inject alone compared to those injecting less frequently and opioids only. Although not statistically significant, the effect sizes in the logistic regression models suggest that polysubstance use may be driven by CS use.

Conclusion

Injecting alone was common in our sample of PWID, and male gender, frequent injecting and polysubstance injecting were associated with this behavior.

中文翻译：

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在注射毒品的人样本中，单独注射在男性、频繁注射者和多物质使用者中更为常见

摘要

背景

单独注射会增加致命过量的风险。我们检查了注射吸毒者 (PWID) 样本中此类行为的程度，以及在过去 4 周中至少一次单独注射吸毒者的典型特征。

设计

一项横断面研究。2017 年 9 月，从挪威七个城市的街头和低门槛服务中招募 PWID（n  =  359）。使用逻辑回归分析检查特征与单独注射之间的关联。自变量是性别（女性/男性）、年龄、接受过过量预防教育（否/是）以及过去 4 周内；无家可归/庇护所使用（否/是），阿片类药物替代治疗（否/是），每周注射 ≥ 4 天（否/是），以及注射物质（仅阿片类药物/阿片类药物和其他/仅其他/中枢兴奋剂（CS ) 仅/CS 和其他/CS 和阿片类药物/CS、阿片类药物和其他）。报告了调整后的优势比 (aOR) 和 95% 置信区间 (CI)。

发现

在 359 名 PWID 中，84.4% 报告单独注射。男性比女性更有可能单独注射（aOR  =  1.88 95% CI 1.00-3.54）。此外，那些经常注射的人（aOR  =  1.99 95% CI 1.02-3.86）和那些注射多种物质（CS、阿片类药物和其他）的人（aOR  =  2.94 95% CI 1.01-8.58）与那些注射较少的人相比更有可能单独注射经常和阿片类药物。虽然没有统计学意义，但逻辑回归模型中的效应大小表明，多物质的使用可能是由 CS 的使用驱动的。

结论

在我们的 PWID 样本中，单独注射很常见，男性、频繁注射和多物质注射与这种行为有关。