Injecting trends in Austria including results of a systematic literature review on interventions aiming to influence the route of administration Alexander Grabenhofer-Eggerth TDI expert meeting - Lisbon, 24.9.2013
Route of administration of clients entering treatment by primary drug, 2010 or most recent year available all opioid outpatient clients by country and usual route of administration (%) Source: EMCDDA Stats Bull 2012 TDI 17/2 Country Inject Smoke/inhale Route of administration of opioids Eat/drink 11 Sniff Others Austria 34,7 6,5 17,9 40,8 0,0 Belgium 1 20,6 63,7 12,8 2,7 0,2 Bulgaria 81,8 4,6 0,9 7,4 5,2 Cyprus 64,1 29,9 3,2 2,8 0,0 Czech Republic 79,3 7,4 8,9 4,2 0,1 Denmark 15,6 19,5 58,8 6,1 0,0 Estonia 2 86,5 11,4 1,3 0,8 0,0 Finland 74,7 0,5 16,7 8,1 0,0 France 22,8 14,1 9,3 52,9 0,9 Germany 35,8 17,0 39,7 6,6 1,0 Greece 38,0 10,5 0,9 50,5 0,0 Hungary 69,3 15,2 11,7 3,9 0,0 Ireland 32,0 60,9 7,0 0,1 0,0 Italy 3 53,3 35,3 1,9 8,7 0,8 Latvia 4 93,5 0,3 5,5 0,7 0,0 Lithuania : : : : : Luxembourg 68,4 30,5 0,0 0,0 1,1 Malta 5 61,2 30,9 0,4 5,8 1,7 Netherlands 6 7,0 77,3 13,4 2,4 0,0 Poland 7 66,2 29,2 4,2 0,4 0,0 Portugal 8 14,5 84,1 0,9 0,4 0,1 Romania 91,4 6,9 1,0 0,8 0,0 Slovakia 78,0 12,4 3,5 6,0 0,0 Slovenia 51,9 35,0 2,5 10,6 0,0 Spain 9 16,4 71,1 5,1 6,0 1,4 Sweden 58,5 11,3 27,6 2,3 0,3 UK 10 33,5 54,9 10,0 0,9 0,7 Croatia 73,4 5,2 1,5 19,9 0,0
Route of administration of heroin of clients entering outpatient treatment in Austria in 2012 (n = 1.177) 70% 62% 60% 57% 50% 51% 40% 35% 34% 30% 28% 20% 10% 0% < 20 years od 20-29 years old 30 years and older sniffing injecting
So what does this mean?» lot of evidence about changes in routes of administration in the course of a drug-career (e.g. de la Fuente et al. 1997).» route of administration of opioids (outside of OST) differs a lot between countries and regions» Since drug-injecting is regarded as the most harmful route of administration it might be worth looking for interventions that aim to change the route of administration» A well researched intervention to change the route of administration from injecting to ingestion via eating/drinking is OST» assumption that there might be also other possibilities to influence the route of administration (especially avoiding of shifting to IDU)
Systematic literature review with following questions» Which interventions focus on the route of administration (e. g. avoid shifting to IDU from other routes or promote shifting from IDU to other routes of administration)?» How successful are these programmes concerning the reduction of drug-induced deaths?
Factors influencing the route of administration» depression (Cepeda et al. 2012)» longer drug-career (Malekinejad/Vazirian 2012)» homelessness (Roy et al. 2007)» poly-drug use (Emmanuel/Attarad 2006)» lifetime history of sexual violence (Cheng et al. 2006)» an injecting partner (Sherman et al. 2002)» many IDUs in the social network (Koram et al. 2011)» younger age at first heroin use (Neaigus et al. 2006)» school drop-out (Fuller et al. 2002)» belief that injection is more efficient route than smoking or sniffing (Bravo et al. 2003)» prison (Long et al. 2004)» different kinds and purity of heroin or opioids (Hunt et al. 2005)» factors associated with shifting away from injecting to non-injecting routes of administration are:» opioid substitution treatment (Hunt et al. 2005)» concerns about health (Des Jarlais et al. 2007)» social stigmatisation of injecting (Des Jarlais et al. 2007)» vein problems (Bravo et al. 2003)
Possible interventions» The chasing campaign : to promote heroin chasing as an alternative route of drug administration for injectors. (Healthy Option Team/Respect Users Union) no evaluation» Foil distribution: In Australia, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK to promote inhaling among injectors. Evaluation-study (Pizzey/Hunt 2008) reported promising first results. No final evidence statement can be derived» Training programmes to prevent transitions to injecting: The Sniffer programme for intranasal heroin users in New York, reinforced motives for avoiding injecting and developed coping skills (Bridge 2010). Evaluation: significant less injecting than in control group.» A brief intervention for use with current injectors has been developed in UK ( Break the Circle )(not inject in front of non injectors, avoid initiation of others). Prevention of Transition to Injecting project in Australia (Bridge 2010). Although some of the results are promising no final evidence statement can be derived» Australia -Five session programme to promote shifting from IDU to other route of administration. No final evidence
Conclusions» Although the importance of the route of administration for prevention of DRID as well as for prevention of DRD has been reported in literature for 20 years, interventions as well as research on interventions to influence route of administration of opioids other than OST are scarce.» One way to gather more insight into factors influencing the route of administration would be to analyse differences in route of administration between countries.
Many thanks for your attention! alexander.grabenhofer-eggerth@goeg.at