Amsterdam

Bernal

Caulkins

Dahlman

Darke

Dunsmuir

Giese

Greenfield

Griffith

Griffiths

Hill

Karila

Kontopantelis

Lafferty

Larney

Levine

Lindsay

Loeffler

Luca-Harari

Manea

McAuley

Parks

Reuter

Ryall

Rácz

Smyth

Soussan

Taljaard

Van Hout

Wagner

Wilkins

Wood

English

Background and AimsIn April 2015, the UK government enacted a temporary class drug order (TCDO) on ethylphenidate in response to reported harms associated with its use, in particular an outbreak of infections among people who inject drugs (PWID) in Lothian, Scotland. This study assesses the effect that the TCDO had on reducing the most common infections identified during the outbreak: Streptococcus pyogenes and Staphylococcus aureus.DesignThe outbreak was split into a pre-intervention period (35 weeks) and a post-intervention period (26 weeks) based around the date of the TCDO. Segmented negative binomial regression models were used to compare trends in weekly counts of infections between the pre- and post-intervention periods.Setting and participantsPWID in the Lothian region of Scotland.MeasurementsCases of S. pyogenes and S. aureus infections reported within the National Health Service, Lothian.FindingsThere were 251 S. pyogenes and/or S. aureus infections recorded among 211 PWID between February 2014 and December 2015: 171 infections in the pre-intervention period and 51 in the post-intervention period. Significant trend changes in weekly S. pyogenes and/or S. aureus infections following the TCDO were found [relative risk (RR) = 0.88, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.82–0.94]. PWID who self-reported using novel psychoactive substances (NPS) were at higher risk of acquiring these infections (RR = 1.81, 95% CI = 1.12–2.93), particularly when comparing the risk of infection with NPS use for a specific strain, S. pyogenes emm76.0, against the risk of infection with NPS use for S. pyogenes (emm types other than emm76.0) (RR = 3.49, 95% CI = 1.32–9.21).ConclusionsThe UK government's 2015 temporary class drug order on ethylphenidate was effective in reducing infections among people who inject drugs during an outbreak situation in Lothian, Scotland

Yeung, Alan

Weir, Amanda

Austin, Hannah

Morrison, Kirsty

Inverarity, Donald

Sherval, Jim

Henderson, Naomi

Joshi, Shruti

Ure, Roisin

McAuley, Andrew

ResearchOnline@GCU

Assessing the impact of a temporary class drug order on ethylphenidate-related infections among people who inject drugs in Lothian, Scotland: an interrupted time–series analysis

Alan Yeung

Amanda Weir

Hannah Austin

Kirsty Morrison

Donald Inverarity

Jim Sherval

Naomi Henderson

Shruti Joshi

Roisin Ure

Andrew McAuley

Crossref

Addiction

Assessing the impact of a temporary class drug order on ethylphenidate-related infections among people who inject drugs in Lothian, Scotland: an interrupted time-series analysis

https://researchonline.gcu.ac.uk/files/25096133/McAuley_nps_report_20170529.pdf

Assessing the impact of a temporary class drug order on ethylphenidate-related infections among people who inject drugs in Lothian, Scotland: an interrupted time–series analysis

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

ResearchOnline@GCU

Crossref