Drug use during a pandemic: Convergent risk of novel coronavirus and invasive bacterial and viral infections among people who use drugs

Jacka, Brendan; Phipps, Emily-Rose; Marshall, Brandon D.L.

doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2020.102895

Cited by 23 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The Larney and Bruneau (2020) review of evidence from other ‘big events’ concluded that, in a pandemic-type scenario, NSP should offer as many needles and syringes to clients as requested and that flexible NSP, such as mobile or outreach models, will increase access [ 19 ]. Other authors have also recommended this ‘low threshold’ approach (as opposed to one-for-one exchange) to needle/syringe provision [ 7 , 24 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid evidence review of harm reduction interventions and messaging for people who inject drugs during pandemic events: implications for the ongoing COVID-19 response

et al. 2020

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Background People who inject drugs are at increased health risk in a pandemic due to their greater susceptibility to severe disease and as a consequence of the restrictions put in place to halt the spread of infection. Harm reduction (HR) services, which aim to reduce the negative effects of drug use on health, are likely to be diminished in a pandemic. However, innovative HR interventions and messaging may also develop in response to such a crisis. It is vital to understand the most effective ways to deliver HR in pandemic situations so that guidance can be provided for current and future disruptions to service provision. Methods A rapid evidence review was conducted with the aim of exploring what HR interventions and messaging are most effective during a pandemic-type situation. Ten health databases were systematically searched using terms relevant to the research aim. A search was also made of grey literature, including a targeted search of HR messaging from key national and service provider websites. Results In the initial search, 121 pieces of evidence were identified which, after screening and de-duplication, resulted in 60 for inclusion. The included evidence consists mainly of non-peer reviewed, pre-publication or expert opinion pieces. The rapid findings suggest that HR services should be deemed essential during a pandemic, with staff supported to work safely and social distancing adaptations implemented. Services should be encouraged to operate more flexibly; for instance, in deciding the amounts of take-home supplies of injecting equipment and medications. The evidence on HR communication was very limited but key messages on infection control, uncertain drug supply and accessing services were identified. Conclusions This rapid evidence review identifies implications for national policy makers, commissioners and HR service providers. A person-centred rather than disease-centred approach to HR delivered by collaborating partners, as well as prioritizing tailored HR messaging, is recommended. Further research evaluating the delivery of HR services and messaging, particularly focusing on health inequalities, is urgently needed.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rapid evidence review of harm reduction interventions and messaging for people who inject drugs during pandemic events: implications for the ongoing COVID-19 response

et al. 2020

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“…The only exception is narcotics; a unitary increase in the log-transformed rate of cases is negatively associated with a decline in drug-related crimes (OR=0.477, p<0.1). This relation may be driven by lower compliance with formal norms that simultaneously applies to both drug consumption and violation of social distancing measures (Jacka et al, 2020;Dumas et al, 2020) which, in turn, manifests in a higher prevalence of COVID-19 cases and a lower reduction in narcotics.…”

Section: Community-level Crime-wise Bayesian Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling community-level changes in crime trends during the COVID-19 pandemic in Chicago

et al. 2020

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Recent studies exploiting city-level time series have shown that, around the world, several crimes declined after COVID-19 containment policies have been put in place. Using data at the community-level in Chicago, this work aims to advance our understanding on how public interventions affected criminal activities at a finer spatial scale. The analysis relies on a two-step methodology. First, it estimates the community-wise causal impact of social distancing and shelter-in-place policies adopted in Chicago via Structural Bayesian Time-Series across four crime categories (i.e., burglary, assault, narcotics-related offenses, and robbery). Once the models detected the direction, magnitude and significance of the trend changes, Firth’s Logistic Regression is used to investigate the factors associated to the statistically significant crime reduction found in the first step of the analyses. Statistical results first show that changes in crime trends differ across communities and crime types. This suggests that beyond the results of aggregate models lies a complex picture characterized by diverging patterns. Second, regression models provide mixed findings regarding the correlates associated with significant crime reduction: several relations have opposite directions across crimes with population being the only factor that is stably and positively associated with significant crime reduction.

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“…In addition to highlighting overdose, and as noted above, we call attention to how service disruptions linked to COVID-19, as observed in parts of Europe ( EMCDDA and Europol, 2020 , Whitfield et al, 2020 ) and the United States ( Bartholomew et al, 2020 , Glick et al, 2020 ), could exacerbate risks of viral and bacterial infections ( Jacka et al, 2020 , Larney et al, 2017 ). An additional concern is how exposure to COVID-19 among people who use drugs exacerbates co-occurring invasive bacterial infections, particularly community-acquired pneumonia and infective endocarditis ( Jacka, et al, 2020 ). We note the need to better understand, as well as address, how COVID-19 entangles with other viral infections, especially HIV ( Golin et al, 2020 , Vasylyeva et al, 2020 , Wilkinson and Grimsrud, 2020 ) and HCV ( Blach et al, 2020 , Karimi-Sari and Rezaee-Zavareh, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 and the health of people who use drugs: What is and what could be?

Grebely

Cerdá

Rhodes

2020

International Journal of Drug Policy

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SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has changed the world as we know it, and continues to do so. How COVID-19 affects people who use drugs, the environments in which they live, and capacities of response, warrants immediate attention. This special issue begins to map how COVID-19 is altering the health of people who use drugs, including in relation to patterns of drug use, service responses, harms that may relate to drug use, interventions to reduce risk of harms, COVID-19 health, and drug policies. We emphasise the need to envisage COVID-19 and its effects as a matter of intersecting ‘complex adaptive systems’: that is, the impacts of COVID-19 extend beyond the virus and related illness conditions to encompass multiple social, cultural, economic, policy and political effects; and these affect the health of people who use drugs directly as well as indirectly by altering the risk and enabling environments in which they live. We synthesize emergent evidence on the impact of COVID-19 on the health of people who use drugs. A key concern we identify is how to sustain policy and service delivery improvements prompted by COVID-19. We need to maintain an ethos of emergent adaptation and experimentation towards the creation of safer environments in relation to the health of people who use drugs.

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Drug use during a pandemic: Convergent risk of novel coronavirus and invasive bacterial and viral infections among people who use drugs

Cited by 23 publications

References 14 publications

Rapid evidence review of harm reduction interventions and messaging for people who inject drugs during pandemic events: implications for the ongoing COVID-19 response

Rapid evidence review of harm reduction interventions and messaging for people who inject drugs during pandemic events: implications for the ongoing COVID-19 response

Disentangling community-level changes in crime trends during the COVID-19 pandemic in Chicago

COVID-19 and the health of people who use drugs: What is and what could be?

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