ArticleThe International journal on drug policy2020
Increased risk of HIV and other drug-related harms associated with injecting in public places: national bio-behavioural survey of people who inject drugs.
Article in The International journal on drug policy, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Harms associated with injecting in public spaces: a global systematic review and meta-analysis.The International journal on drug policy · 2025Pooled it
- Out of Sight: Sex Differences in Public and Semi-Public Drug Use Settings Among People Who Use Opioids in Baltimore, Maryland.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- The role of impulsivity in injection-related risk behaviours among people who inject drugs in Montreal, Canada.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- A novel, multi-component contingency management intervention in the context of a syndemic of drug-related harms in Glasgow, Scotland: First year of the 'WAND' initiative.Addictive behaviors reports · 2025Article
- Rising mortality among people who inject drugs living with HIV in Scotland, UK: A 20-year retrospective cohort study.HIV medicine · 2025Article
- Examining trends in the incidence of HIV infection among people with a history of drug use to inform an outbreak investigation and response: A retrospective cohort study.HIV medicine · 2025Article
- Article
- Barriers and recommendations for harm reduction services among people living with HIV in Manitoba, Canada: a qualitative study.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Testing and Treatment Interventions in Community Settings Key to Controlling a Recent Human Immunodeficiency Virus Outbreak Among People Who Inject Drugs in Glasgow: A Modeling Study.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Sweden's first Take-Home Naloxone program: participant characteristics, dose endpoints and predictors for overdose reversals.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2023Article
- Health service utilisation and access for people who inject drugs during COVID-19.Drug and alcohol review · 2022Review
- Naloxone administration among opioid-involved overdose deaths in 38 United States jurisdictions in the State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System, 2019.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2022Article
- Drug Consumption Rooms and Public Health Policy: Perspectives of Scottish Strategic Decision-Makers.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Dealing with low access to harm reduction: a qualitative study of the strategies and risk environments of people who use drugs in a small Swedish city.Harm reduction journal · 2022Article
- Real-world outcomes of rapid regional hepatitis C virus treatment scale-up among people who inject drugs in Tayside, Scotland.Alimentary pharmacology & therapeutics · 2022Article
- Examining the impact of the first wave of COVID-19 and associated control measures on interventions to prevent blood-borne viruses among people who inject drugs in Scotland: an interrupted time series study.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2022Article
- Injection and Sexual Behavior Profiles among People Who Inject Drugs in Miami, Florida.Substance use & misuse · 2022Article
- Drug use stigma and its association with active hepatitis C virus infection and injection drug use behaviors among community-based people who inject drugs in India.The International journal on drug policy · 2021Article
- Article
- Reduction in injection risk behaviors after implementation of a syringe services program, Miami, Florida.Journal of substance abuse treatment · 2021Observational
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWhilst injecting drugs in public places is considered a proxy for high risk behaviour among people who inject drugs (PWID), studies quantifying its relationship with multiple drug-related harms are lacking and none have examined this in the context of an ongoing HIV outbreak (located in Glasgow, Scotland). We aimed to: 1) estimate the prevalence of public injecting in Scotland and associated risk factors; and 2) estimate the association between public injecting and HIV, current HCV, overdose, and skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI).
methodsCross-sectional, bio-behavioural survey (including dried blood spot testing to determine HIV and HCV infection) of 1469 current PWID (injected in last 6 months) recruited by independent interviewers from 139 harm reduction services across Scotland during 2017-18. Primary outcomes were: injecting in a public place (yes/no); HIV infection; current HCV infection; self-reported overdose in the last year (yes/no) and SSTI the last year (yes/no). Multi-variable logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with public injecting and to estimate the association between public injecting and drug-related harms (HIV, current HCV, overdose and SSTI).
resultsPrevalence of public injecting was 16% overall in Scotland and 47% in Glasgow city centre. Factors associated with increased odds of public injecting were: recruitment in Glasgow city centre (aOR=5.45, 95% CI 3.48-8.54, p<0.001), homelessness (aOR=3.68, 95% CI 2.61-5.19, p<0.001), high alcohol consumption (aOR=2.42, 95% CI 1.69-3.44, p<0.001), high injection frequency (≥4 per day) (aOR=3.16, 95% CI 1.93-5.18, p<0.001) and cocaine injecting (aOR=1.46, 95% CI 1.00 to 2.13, p = 0.046). Odds were lower for those receiving opiate substitution therapy (OST) (aOR=0.37, 95% CI 0.24 to 0.56, p<0.001) and older age (per year increase) (aOR=0.97, 95% CI 0.95 to 0.99, p = 0.013). Public injecting was associated with an increased risk of HIV infection (aOR=2.11, 95% CI 1.13-3.92, p = 0.019), current HCV infection (aOR=1.49, 95% CI 1.01-2.19, p = 0.043), overdose (aOR=1.59, 95% CI 1.27-2.01, p<0.001) and SSTI (aOR=1.42, 95% CI 1.17-1.73, p<0.001).
conclusionsThese findings highlight the need to address the additional harms observed among people who inject in public places and provide evidence to inform proposals in the UK and elsewhere to introduce facilities that offer safer drug consumption environments.
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