Rising role of prescription drugs as a portal to injection drug use and associated mortality in Baltimore, Maryland.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Prescription drug abuse is a major public health problem in rural and suburban areas of the United States, however its emergence in large urban settings with endemic injection drug use remains understudied. We examined temporal trends in injection drug use initiation and mortality among people who inject drugs (PWID) in Baltimore, Maryland.

Methods

Data were derived from the baseline assessment of PWID enrolled in a community-based cohort study with longitudinal follow-up for mortality assessment. PWID were recruited from 2005-2008 (N = 1,008) and 2015-2018 (N = 737). We compared characteristics by birth cohort (before/after 1980) and type of drug initiated (prescription opioids, prescription non-opioids, non-injection illicit drugs, or injection drugs). We calc

SUBMITTER: Cepeda JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6398863 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature