BACKGROUND Hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV infections constitute serious healthcare problems worldwide. OBJECTIVES There are a limited number of studies regarding the prevalence of hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV infections among the drug addicts in Turkey; hence, the current study aimed to determine the frequency of these infections among 235 drug addicts treated in a drug addiction treatm...

OBJECTIVE Iran has the highest rate of opiate use worldwide. However, most opiate users are not screened for hepatitis virus infections. This study aimed to provide accurate, detailed data on the size of the opiate user population at risk of developing these infections. METHOD This seroprevalence study was conducted in the city of Shiraz, southern Iran. All participants were screened for HBV,...

Non-fatal overdose is an occupational risk of heroin misuse' and fatal overdose is a common cause of premature death in heroin users. ... One of the major contributors to a fatal outcome is the inadequacy of heroin users' responses to the overdoses of their peers. They may delay calling an ambulance for fear of the police arriving, and their efforts to revive comatose users are often ineffectiv...

This study surveyed 422 individuals being treated in a substance abuse treatment program that offers various levels of care in order to learn about OxyContin use among this population. Focus areas included exposure and use of OxyContin, how this medication was obtained, reasons for initial use, and whether users of OxyContin were drug naive or experienced users of opiate or non-opiate drugs. Wh...

BACKGROUND To date there have been no studies estimating the hidden prevalence of opiate use in Dublin. METHODS A multisource enumeration followed by the application of the capture-recapture method with log-linear modelling including age and gender stratification to remove heterogeneity was implemented to provide an estimate of the unknown size of the opiate-using population. Two medical and ...

Background: Chronic opioid use is a major public health problem with significant morbidity. The aim of this study was to investigate factors associated with sustained remission among a sample of Iranian chronic opioid users in Shiraz, Iran.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study to evaluate sustained remission among chronic opiate users aged 20-60 years. Participants included two groups: 365 ...

A retrospective analysis of hospitalizations due to infection in 175 injection drug users was performed for the 3 years before and the period during their participation in an injection opiate maintenance program (mean duration during program, 2.6 years). Skin infections were the main reason for hospitalization. The injection opiate maintenance program did not reduce the incidence of infection l...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Opiate use for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), particularly high-dose (HD) use, is associated with increased mortality. It's assumed that opiate use is directly related to IBD-related complaints, although this hasn't been well defined. Our goal was to determine the indications for opiate use as a first step in developing strategies to prevent or decrease opiate use. METHODS ...