SynthesisThe International journal on drug policy2015
Transition to injecting drug use in Iran: A systematic review of qualitative and quantitative evidence.
Synthesis in The International journal on drug policy, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 72 citations in OpenAlex.
- Hepatitis B virus infection among people who use drugs in Iran: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and trend analysis.Harm reduction journal · 2020Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection in people who inject drugs in Iran.BMC public health · 2020Pooled it
- Prevalence of hepatitis C virus infection among prisoners in Iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Harm reduction journal · 2018Pooled it
- High hepatitis C virus prevalence among drug users in Iran: systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiological evidence (2001-2012).International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases · 2015Pooled it
- Psychiatric factors associated with early-onset and poly-drug use: insights from a large-scale addiction registry.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Correlates of duration between initial drug use and first drug injection among people who inject drugs in Iran, 2020.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Rats chasing the dragon: A new heroin inhalation method.Journal of neuroscience methods · 2024Article
- Blended smartphone intervention for patients in opioid maintenance treatment in Iran: protocol for a randomized controlled trial.BMC psychiatry · 2023Article
- Young and invisible: a qualitative study of service engagement by people who inject drugs in India.BMJ open · 2021Article
- A vapor exposure method for delivering heroin alters nociception, body temperature and spontaneous activity in female and male rats.Journal of neuroscience methods · 2021Article
- Drug injection and associated factors among the elderly living with HIV/AIDS in Tehran, Iran.Medical journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran · 2021Article
- Opium dependence and the potential impact of changes in treatment coverage level: A dynamic modeling study.Health promotion perspectives · 2021Article
- Risk of hepatitis C virus infection in injecting and noninjecting drug users receiving opioid substitution therapy.Journal of the Chinese Medical Association : JCMA · 2020Article
- Patterns of Drug Use and Related Factors Among Prisoners in Iran: Results from the National Survey in 2015.The journal of primary prevention · 2020Article
- When and how do individuals transition from regular drug use to injection drug use in Uganda? Findings from a rapid assessment.Harm reduction journal · 2019Article
- Application of data mining techniques and logistic regression to model drug use transition to injection: a case study in drug use treatment centers in Kermanshah Province, Iran.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2019Article
- Article
- Profile of drug users in the residential treatment centers of Tehran, Iran.Health promotion perspectives · 2019Article
- Non-injection Drug Use and Injection Initiation Assistance among People Who Inject Drugs in Tijuana, Mexico.Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2018Article
- Preventing Injection Drug use Initiation: State of the Evidence and Opportunities for the Future.Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundInjection drug use, a behavior associated with significant adverse health effects, has been increasing over the past decade in Iran. This study aims to systematically review the epidemiological and qualitative evidence on factors that facilitate or protect the transition to injection drug use in Iran.
methodsWe conducted electronic searches in five international (Medline, Web of Science, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO), one regional (IMEMR) and three Iranian (Iranmedex, Iranpsych, IranDoc) databases, as well as contacting experts in the field. Two trained researchers screened documents to identify relevant studies and independently dual-extracted data following pre-specified protocol. We applied principles of thematic analysis for qualitative data and applied a random effect meta-analysis model for age of first injection.
resultsA total of 38 documents from 31 studies met eligibility criteria, from which more than 50% were implemented from 2006 to 2008. The weighted mean age of first injection was 25.8 (95% Confidence Interval: 25.3-26.2). Between 1998 and 2011, the age of first injection was relatively stable. Overall, drug users had used drugs for 6-7 years before they started injection use. Heroin was the first drug of injection in the majority of the cases. We identified factors influencing the initiation of or transition to injection use at various levels, including: (1) individual (pleasure-seeking behavior, curiosity and development of drug dependency commonly reported), (2) social and environmental (role of peer drug users in the first injection use, the economic efficiency associated with injections and the wide availability of injectable form of drugs in the market).
conclusionHarm reduction policies in Iran have almost exclusively focused on drug injectors in Iran. However, given the extent of the non-injection drug use epidemic, evidence from this study can provide insight on points of interventions for the prevention of the transition to injection use.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.