Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-xxrs7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T12:15:53.944Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Severe illness and death among injecting drug users in Scotland: a case-control study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2004

A. TAYLOR
Affiliation:
University of Paisley, Paisley, Scotland, UK
S. HUTCHINSON
Affiliation:
Health Protection Scotland, Scotland, UK University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland, UK
J. LINGAPPA
Affiliation:
University of Washington, USA
S. WADD
Affiliation:
Health Protection Scotland, Scotland, UK
S. AHMED
Affiliation:
Greater Glasgow NHS Board, Scotland, UK
L. GRUER
Affiliation:
NHS Health Scotland, Scotland, UK
T. H. TAYLOR
Affiliation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, UK
K. ROY
Affiliation:
Health Protection Scotland, Scotland, UK
G. GILCHRIST
Affiliation:
Greater Glasgow NHS Board, Scotland, UK
C. McGUIGAN
Affiliation:
Greater Glasgow NHS Board, Scotland, UK
G. PENRICE
Affiliation:
Greater Glasgow NHS Board, Scotland, UK
D. GOLDBERG
Affiliation:
Health Protection Scotland, Scotland, UK
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Between April and September 2000, 60 injecting drug users in Scotland died or were hospitalized with severe illness. Laboratory investigations suggested that Clostridium novyi and other bacteria were important aetiological agents. To determine associated environmental/behavioural factors a case-control study was undertaken with 19 ‘definite’ and 32 ‘probable’ cases in Glasgow, Scotland. For every deceased case (n=19), up to three proxy individuals were interviewed. Three controls were identified for each case. Multivariate logistic regression analyses compared (i) all cases and controls; (ii) definite cases and matched controls; (iii) probable cases and matched controls. In all three analyses injecting into muscle or skin and injecting most of the time with a filter used by someone else were the variables most strongly associated with illness. Comparing only muscle-injecting cases and controls, cases were significantly more likely to have injected larger amounts of heroin per average injection than were controls. The findings make an important epidemiological contribution to the understanding of the public health and clinical implications of the contamination of illicit drugs by histotoxic clostridia.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press