Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26880660›Full record

ArticleBMC public health2016

A needle in the haystack--the dire straits of needle exchange in Hungary.

V Anna Gyarmathy, Róbert Csák, Katalin Bálint, Eszter Bene, András Ernő Varga, Mónika Varga, Nóra Csiszér, István Vingender, József Rácz

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC public health, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. HIV among people who inject drugs in Hungary.Infectious diseases of poverty · 2017
    Article
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

V Anna GyarmathyJohns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA. vgyarmat@jhsph.edu.
Róbert CsákBlue Point Drug Counselling and Outpatient Centre, Budapest, Hungary. csakrobert@gmail.com.
Katalin BálintSemmelweis University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Budapest, Hungary. bkati18@gmail.com.
Eszter BeneSemmelweis University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Budapest, Hungary. beneszter@gmail.com.
András Ernő VargaSemmelweis University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.
Mónika VargaDrug Prevention Foundation, Budapest, Hungary. vargaseparate@gmail.com.
Nóra CsiszérDrug Prevention Foundation, Budapest, Hungary. csiszernora@freemail.hu.
István VingenderSemmelweis University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Budapest, Hungary. vingenderi@se-etk.hu.
József RáczSemmelweis University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Budapest, Hungary. raczjozsef0428@gmail.com.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe two largest needle exchange programs (NEPs) in Hungary were forced to close down in the second half of 2014 due to extreme political attacks and related lack of government funding. The closures occurred against a background of rapid expansion in Hungary of injectable new psychoactive substances, which are associated with very frequent injecting episodes and syringe sharing. The aim of our analysis was to predict how the overall Hungarian NEP syringe supply was affected by the closures.

methodsWe analyzed all registry data from all NEPs in Hungary for all years of standardized NEP data collection protocols currently in use (2008-2014) concerning 22 949 client enrollments, 9,211 new clients, 228,167 client contacts, 3,160,560 distributed syringes, and 2,077,676 collected syringes.

resultsWe found that while the combined share of the two now closed NEPs decreased over time, even in their partial year 2014 they still distributed and collected about half of all syringes, and attended to over half of all clients and client contacts in Hungary. The number of distributed syringes per PWID (WHO minimum target = 100) was 81 in 2014 in Hungary, but 39 without the two now closed NEPs.

conclusionsThere is a high probability that the combination of decreased NEP coverage and the increased injection risk of new psychoactive substances may lead in Hungary to a public health disaster similar to the HIV outbreaks in Romania and Greece. This can be avoided only by an immediate change in the attitude of the Hungarian government towards harm reduction.

Indexed as

Harm ReductionNeedle-Exchange ProgramsNeedlesNeedle SharingSyringesCommunicable Disease ControlDisease OutbreaksGreeceHIV InfectionsHumansHungaryPsychotropic DrugsRomaniaSubstance Abuse, IntravenousPsychotropic Drugs

Identifiers

PMID26880660
PMCPMC4754887

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Registered trials

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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.