ArticleHarm reduction journal2022
Impact of COVID-19 among people who use drugs: A qualitative study with harm reduction workers and people who use drugs.
Article in Harm reduction journal, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
34 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 55 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assessing coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic impacts on the health of people who inject drugs using a novel data sharing model.AIDS (London, England) · 2025Pooled it
- Applications of Immersive Virtual Reality for Illicit Substance Use: A Systematic Review.Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs · 2024Pooled it
- The Drug Market's Impact on the Overdose Risk Environment for Women Who Use Drugs During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2026Article
- The changing contribution of fentanyl use to non-fatal overdose among a cohort of people who inject drugs in San Diego, California: A longitudinal assessment.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2026Article
- COVID-19 pandemic-related stress and substance use behaviors among people with HIV - a mixed method analysis.PloS one · 2026Article
- Changes in drug-use behaviors among people who use drugs with comorbid psychiatric disorders across the COVID-19 pandemic: a three-phase longitudinal cohort study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- "It Eats My Heart": Identifying Knowledge Gaps in Injection Drug-Related Endocarditis Among Hospitalized Patients.Substance use & addiction journal · 2026Article
- "It Changed Everything": Challenges to Indigenous Recovery Practices Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic.Genealogy · 2025Article
- Changes in Drug-Induced Hospitalisations and Deaths During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Australia.Drug and alcohol review · 2025Article
- "The people who depended on us became expendable": Experiences of frontline workers with lived and living expertise of drug use during the COVID-19 pandemic.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Key and evolving needs of service providers in women's harm reduction centers during the COVID-19 pandemic.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Impact of Pandemic-Induced Service Disruptions and Behavioral Changes on Hepatitis C Virus and HIV Transmission Amongst People Who Inject Drugs: A Modeling Study.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2025Article
- City-level drug policies in Portugal: the COVID-19 pandemic as an analyzer of harm reduction responsiveness in Porto and Lisbon.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Navigating the COVID-19 Risk Environment, Overdose Prevention, and Self Care Practices of People Who Use Illicit Opioids in New York City.Substance use & misuse · 2025Article
- Navigating concurrent public health emergencies: Indigenous perspectives from the Cedar Project in British Columbia.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Responding to location-based triggers of cravings to return to substance use: A qualitative study.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2025Article
- A cohort-based assessment of drug use trends during the COVID-19 pandemic: relationship with mood and sociodemographic factors in Brazil.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- COVID-19 public health restrictions and opioid overdoes: a summative content analysis of emergency medical services records in three Texas counties.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2024Article
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people who use drugs in three Canadian cities: a cross-sectional analysis.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
- Structural and social changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic and their impact on engagement in substance use disorder treatment services: a qualitative study among people with a recent history of injection drug use in Baltimore, Maryland.Harm reduction journal · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundFatal drug overdoses in the USA hit historical records during the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout the pandemic, people who used drugs had greater odds of contracting COVID-19, increased drug use due to COVID-related stress, and heightened levels of anxiety and depression. This qualitative study examined the specific ways the pandemic negatively impacted people who use drugs.
methodsQualitative interviews with 24 people who use drugs and 20 substance use harm reduction workers were conducted. Data from the qualitative interviews were analyzed using applied thematic analysis to identify emergent themes based on the a priori research goals.
resultsThematic analysis identified several common experiences during the pandemic among people who use drugs. These included mental distress due to financial strain and social isolation; increased drug use; increased risky drug-seeking and use behaviors due to changes in the drug markets; and reduced access to harm reduction, treatment, and recovery support services.
conclusionsOur study highlighted critical systemic failures that contributed to the rise in overdose deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic. Addressing these challenges through policy reform and improved funding models will ensure the sustainability of harm reduction services and increase access to substance use treatment among highly vulnerable people who use drugs.
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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.