TY - JOUR
T1 - Perceptions of injectable opioid agonist treatment (iOAT) among people who regularly use opioids in Australia
T2 - findings from a cross-sectional study in three Australian cities
AU - Nielsen, Suzanne
AU - Sanfilippo, Paul
AU - Belackova, Vendula
AU - Day, Carolyn
AU - Silins, Ed
AU - Lintzeris, Nicholas
AU - Bruno, Raimondo
AU - Grebely, Jason
AU - Lancaster, Kari
AU - Ali, Robert
AU - Bell, James
AU - Dietze, Paul
AU - Degenhardt, Louisa
AU - Farrell, Michael
AU - Larance, Briony
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was sponsored by UNSW and supported by an Externally Sponsored Collaborative Research grant from Indivior. Indivior had no role in collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. S.N., P.D. and L.D. are supported by an National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) research fellowships (no. 1163961, no. 1136908, no. 1135991). The National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of NSW is supported by funding from the Australian Government under the Substance Misuse Prevention and Service Improvements Grant Fund. L.D. also receives support from through a National Institute of Health (NIH) National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) grant (R01DA1104470). Thanks are due to the study participants for generously sharing their views and experiences. Thanks go to Alexander Saeri and Sonja Memedovic, who coordinated the project and helped design the questionnaire, and Nima Dorkian, Rakin Rahman, Oliver de Angelis, Jessica Forward, Thomas Norman, Jane Akhurst, Luke Ney, Daisy Gibbs, Teleri Moore, Isaac Addo and Kelly Kershaw, who assisted with interviewing participants. We also wish to thank Dr Marianne Jauncey for reviewing and providing comments on a draft of the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Society for the Study of Addiction
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/6
Y1 - 2021/6
N2 - Background and aims: Not all people experiencing opioid dependence benefit from oral opioid agonist treatment. The aim of this study was to examine perceptions of (supervised) injectable opioid agonist treatment (iOAT) (described as ‘an opioid similar to heroin self-injected at a clinic several times a day’) among people who regularly use opioids and determine how common iOAT eligibility criteria accord with interest in iOAT. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Setting: Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart, Australia. Participants: A total of 344 people (63% male) who use opioids regularly and had ever injected opioids, interviewed December 2017–March 2018. The mean age of participants was 41.5 years [standard deviation (SD) = 8.5]. Measurements: Primary outcome measures were interest in iOAT, factors associated with interest and the proportion of participants who would be eligible using common criteria from trials and guidelines. We examined willingness to travel for iOAT, medication preferences and perspectives on whom should receive iOAT. Findings: Overall, 53% of participants (n = 182) believed that iOAT would be a good treatment option for them. Participants who believed that iOAT was a good treatment option for them were more likely to be male [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.76, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.10–2.82], have used heroin in the past month (aOR = 6.03, 95% CI = 2.86–12.71), currently regularly inject opioids (aOR = 1.84, 95% CI = 1.16–2.91) and have met ICD-10 criteria for opioid dependence (aOR = 3.46, 95% CI = 1.65–7.24). Those interested in iOAT had commenced more treatment episodes (aOR =1.06, 95% CI = 1.00–1.12). Among those interested in iOAT (n = 182), 26% (n = 48) met common eligibility criteria for iOAT. Conclusions: Interest in injectable opioid agonist treatment does not appear to be universal among people who regularly use opioids. Among study participants who expressed interest in injectable opioid agonist treatment, most did not meet common eligibility criteria.
AB - Background and aims: Not all people experiencing opioid dependence benefit from oral opioid agonist treatment. The aim of this study was to examine perceptions of (supervised) injectable opioid agonist treatment (iOAT) (described as ‘an opioid similar to heroin self-injected at a clinic several times a day’) among people who regularly use opioids and determine how common iOAT eligibility criteria accord with interest in iOAT. Design: Cross-sectional survey. Setting: Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart, Australia. Participants: A total of 344 people (63% male) who use opioids regularly and had ever injected opioids, interviewed December 2017–March 2018. The mean age of participants was 41.5 years [standard deviation (SD) = 8.5]. Measurements: Primary outcome measures were interest in iOAT, factors associated with interest and the proportion of participants who would be eligible using common criteria from trials and guidelines. We examined willingness to travel for iOAT, medication preferences and perspectives on whom should receive iOAT. Findings: Overall, 53% of participants (n = 182) believed that iOAT would be a good treatment option for them. Participants who believed that iOAT was a good treatment option for them were more likely to be male [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.76, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.10–2.82], have used heroin in the past month (aOR = 6.03, 95% CI = 2.86–12.71), currently regularly inject opioids (aOR = 1.84, 95% CI = 1.16–2.91) and have met ICD-10 criteria for opioid dependence (aOR = 3.46, 95% CI = 1.65–7.24). Those interested in iOAT had commenced more treatment episodes (aOR =1.06, 95% CI = 1.00–1.12). Among those interested in iOAT (n = 182), 26% (n = 48) met common eligibility criteria for iOAT. Conclusions: Interest in injectable opioid agonist treatment does not appear to be universal among people who regularly use opioids. Among study participants who expressed interest in injectable opioid agonist treatment, most did not meet common eligibility criteria.
KW - Consumer perceptions
KW - heroin
KW - injectable opioid agonist treatment
KW - medication assisted treatment
KW - opioid dependence
KW - opioid-related disorders
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85096657794&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/add.15297
DO - 10.1111/add.15297
M3 - Article
C2 - 33067836
AN - SCOPUS:85096657794
SN - 0965-2140
VL - 116
SP - 1482
EP - 1494
JO - Addiction
JF - Addiction
IS - 6
ER -
