Initiation to heroin injecting among heroin users in Sydney, Australia: cross sectional survey.
- Authors
- Day, Carolyn A; Ross, Joanne; Dietze, Paul; Dolan, Kate
- Year
- 2005
- Journal
- Harm reduction journal
- PMID
- 15713226
- DOI
- 10.1186/1477-7517-2-2
- PMCID
- PMC550668
BACKGROUND: Heroin injection is associated with health and social problems including hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission. Few studies have examined the circumstances surrounding initiation to heroin injecting, especially current users initiating others. The current study aimed to examine the age of first heroin use and injection; administration route of first heroin use; relationship to initiator; the initiation of others among a group of heroin users; and to examine these factors in relation to HCV status and risk. METHOD: Heroin users in Sydney were recruited through needle and syringe programs, a methadone clinic and snowballing. Participants were interviewed about their own initiation to heroin use, blood-borne virus risk and knowledge, and whether they had initiated others to heroin injecting. Information on HCV status was collected via self-report. Data was analysed using univariate and multivariate statistical techniques for Normally distributed continuous and categorical data. RESULTS: The study recruited 399 heroin users, with a mean age of 31 years, 63% were male, 77% reported heroin as their primary drug and 59% were HCV positive (self-report). Mean age at first heroin use and injection was 19 and 21 years, respectively. The majority of heroin users commenced heroin use via injecting (65%), younger users (<25 years, 25-30 years) were less likely than older users (>30 years) to commence heroin use parenterally. Participants were initiated to injection mainly by friends (63%). Thirty-seven percent reported initiating others to heroin injection, but few factors were related to this behaviour. Those with longer heroin using careers were more likely to report initiating others to heroin injection, but were no more likely to have done so in the preceding 12 months. Participants who had initiated others were more likely to have shared injecting equipment (12 vs 23%), but were no more likely to be HCV positive (self-report) than those who did not. CONCLUSION: Interventions to prevent heroin users initiating others to injecting are necessary. Peer groups may be well positioned to implement such interventions.
No figures extracted from this document.
| # | Section | Preview |
|---|---|---|
| 40 | Authors' contribution | C Day coordinated the study, was responsible for the statistical analysis and writing the paper. P⦠|
No entities extracted from this document yet.
No uploaded files.
In this knowledge base
| Title | Year | PMID |
|---|---|---|
| Evidence of CNIH3 involvement in opioid dependence. | 2016 | 26239289 |
External
| Title | Authors | Journal | Year | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drug network identification predicts injecting risk behavior among people who inject drugs on hepatitis C virus treatment in Tayside, Scotland. | Malaguti A et al. | β | 2024 | β |
| Context and correlates of providing assistance with someone's first injection in the AIDS linked to the IntraVenous Experience cohort, Baltimore, MD. | Gicquelais RE et al. | β | 2023 | β |
| Legal Minors Who Inject: Differences in Socio-Demographics and Treatment Needs Compared to Adults in a Swedish National Sample of People with Injecting Drug Use. | Turner R et al. | β | 2023 | β |
| 6-Monoacetylmorphine-antibody distribution in tissues from heroin-related death cases: An experimental study to investigate the distributive response. | Maiese A et al. | β | 2022 | β |
| Prevalence and Correlates of Providing and Receiving Assistance With the Transition to Injection Drug Use. | Gicquelais RE et al. | β | 2020 | β |
| Navigating social norms of injection initiation assistance during an overdose crisis: A qualitative study of the perspectives of people who inject drugs (PWID) in Vancouver, Canada. | Olding M et al. | β | 2019 | β |
| Opioid agonist treatment scale-up and the initiation of injection drug use: A dynamic modeling analysis. | Marks C et al. | β | 2019 | β |
| A qualitative study of persons who inject drugs but who have never helped others with first injections: how their views on helping contrast with the views of persons who have helped with first injections, and implications for interventions. | Barnes DM et al. | β | 2018 | β |
| Cross-border migration and initiation of others into drug injecting in Tijuana, Mexico. | Rafful C et al. | β | 2018 | β |
| Frequency and factors associated with providing injection initiation assistance in Tallinn, Estonia. | UuskΓΌla A et al. | β | 2018 | β |
| Down in the valley: Trajectories of injection initiation among young injectors in California's Central Valley. | Syvertsen JL et al. | β | 2017 | β |
| Evidence of CNIH3 involvement in opioid dependence. | Nelson EC et al. | β | 2016 | β |
| From initiating injecting drug use to regular injecting: Retrospective survival analysis of injecting progression within a sample of people who inject drugs regularly. | O'Keefe D et al. | β | 2016 | β |
| Impact of length of injecting career on HIV incidence among people who inject drugs. | Montain J et al. | β | 2016 | β |
| Factors associated with being asked to initiate someone into injection drug use. | Bluthenthal RN et al. | β | 2015 | β |
| How do drug market changes affect characteristics of injecting initiation and subsequent patterns of drug use? Findings from a cohort of regular heroin and methamphetamine injectors in Melbourne, Australia. | Horyniak D et al. | β | 2015 | β |
| Modeling the initiation of others into injection drug use, using data from 2,500 injectors surveyed in Scotland during 2008-2009. | White SR et al. | β | 2015 | β |
| Factors associated with initiating someone into illicit drug injection. | Bluthenthal RN et al. | β | 2014 | β |
| Transitions from injecting to non-injecting drug use: potential protection against HCV infection. | Des Jarlais DC et al. | β | 2014 | β |
| Effect of prison-based opioid substitution treatment and post-release retention in treatment on risk of re-incarceration. | Larney S et al. | β | 2012 | β |
| Premature mortality in Scottish injecting drug users: a life-history approach. | Copeland L et al. | β | 2012 | β |
| Prevalence and correlates of needle-sharing among new and long-term injection drug users in southwest China. | Zhang L et al. | β | 2010 | β |
| Killing time with enjoyment: a qualitative study of initiation into injecting drug use in north-east India. | Kermode M et al. | β | 2009 | β |
| Initiators: an examination of young injecting drug users who initiate others to injecting. | Bryant J et al. | β | 2008 | β |
| Representativeness of injecting drug users who participate in HIV surveillance: results from Australia's Needle and Syringe Program Survey. | Topp L et al. | β | 2008 | β |
| My first time: initiation into injecting drug use in Manipur and Nagaland, north-east India. | Kermode M et al. | β | 2007 | β |
| Changes in the initiation of heroin use after a reduction in heroin supply. | Day C et al. | β | 2006 | β |
| Some characteristics of early-onset injection drug users prior to and at the time of their first injection. | Abelson J et al. | β | 2006 | β |
| "The first shot": the context of first injection of illicit drugs, ongoing injecting practices, and hepatitis C infection in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. | Oliveira ML et al. | β | 2006 | β |