ArticleThe Journal of infectious diseases2020
Use of Population-Based Surveys for Estimating the Population Size of Persons Who Inject Drugs in the United States.
Article in The Journal of infectious diseases, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- Pain is associated with reduced adherence to safer injection practices among people who inject opioids.Harm reduction journal · 2026Article
- Estimating the population size of people who inject drugs in Canada, 2021.Canada communicable disease report = Releve des maladies transmissibles au Canada · 2025Review
- Hepatitis B Virus NAT Positive Donors in Non-Hepatic Organ Transplant: Quantifying Viral Loads to Optimize Recipient Risk Stratification and Management in the Prevention of Donor-Derived Infection.Clinical transplantation · 2025Article
- Mortality risk among individuals who smoke opioids compared with those who inject: A propensity score-matched cohort analysis of United States national treatment data.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2025Article
- Changing age profile and incidence of injecting drug use initiation among people in Australia who inject drugs: evidence from two national repeated cross-sectional studies.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2025Article
- Risk Factors for Infective Endocarditis and Serious Injection Related Infections Among People Who Inject Drugs in Los Angeles, CA and Denver, CO.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2025Article
- Estimated Number of Injection-Involved Overdose Deaths in US States From 2000 to 2020: Secondary Analysis of Surveillance Data.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2024Article
- Estimated Number of People Who Inject Drugs in the United States.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2023Article
- The association of gender with receptive and distributive needle sharing among individuals who inject drugs.Harm reduction journal · 2022Article
- Barriers and Opportunities to Improve the Implementation of Patient Screening and Linkage to Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis in Primary Care.Journal of clinical research in HIV AIDS and prevention · 2022Article
- Prescription opioid treatment for non-cancer pain and initiation of injection drug use: large retrospective cohort study.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2021Article
- Incidence and Predictors of Gram-Negative Bacilli in Hospitalized People Who Inject Drugs with Injection Drug Use-Attributable Infections.Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2021Article
- Routes of Administration of Illicit Drugs among Young Swiss Men: Their Prevalence and Associated Socio-Demographic Characteristics and Adverse Outcomes.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Transition from injecting opioids to smoking fentanyl in San Francisco, California.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2021Observational
- Recommendations for Increasing Physician Provision of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis: Implications for Medical Student Training.Inquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financingReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIn the United States, injection is an increasingly common route of administration for opioids and other substances. Estimates of the number of persons who inject drugs (PWID) are needed for monitoring risk-specific infectious disease rates and health services coverage.
methodsWe reviewed design and instruments for 4 national household surveys, 2012-2016, for their ability to produce unbiased injection drug use (IDU) prevalence estimates. We explored potential analytic adjustments for reducing biases through use of external data on (1) arrest, (2) narcotic overdose mortality, and (3) biomarker-based sensitivity of self-reported illicit drug use.
resultsEstimated national past 12 months IDU prevalence ranged from 0.24% to 0.59% across surveys. All surveys excluded unstably housed and incarcerated persons, and estimates were based on <60 respondents reporting IDU behavior in 3 surveys. No surveys asked participants about nonmedical injection of prescription drugs. Analytic adjustments did not appreciably change IDU prevalence estimates due to suboptimal specificity of data points.
conclusionsPWID population size estimates in the United States are based on small numbers and are likely biased by undercoverage of key populations and self-report. Novel methods as discussed in this article may improve our understanding of PWID population size and their health needs.
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