Fatal and Non-Fatal Heroin-Related Overdoses: Circumstances and Patterns
- Introduction: Heroin overdose is a leading cause of mortality among drug users. This paper aims to identify individual and contextual factors associated with lethal and non-lethal heroin-related overdoses on the basis of case reports and semi-structured proxy interviews. Typical patterns within these cases are determined by means of cluster analysis. Methods: Within the CaRe (Case Reports of heroin-related overdoses) study, case reports (100 proxy reports of overdose events from 36 different facilities) were gathered and evaluated as part of a nationwide survey of experts conducted in Germany in 2019. Following initial descriptive analyses a two-step cluster analysis with the four binary variables of gender, age, time and place was conducted to identify patterns within the reported cases. Results: The case reports grouped into five clusters: 1) Younger male drug users, found in a public space during the daytime; 2) Female drug users; 3) Older male drug users, found in a public space during the daytime; 4) Drug users found at home at night; 5) Drug users found outside at night. Overdoses by female drug users and those which occurred at home and/or at night were significantly more likely to have a fatal outcome. Conclusion: Future prevention and intervention measures should aim to consider the context, i.e.
Author: | Sven Schneider, Christian Richter, Rainer Niethammer, Larissa Beisel |
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DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2021.1963986 |
Parent Title (English): | Substance Use & Misuse |
Document Type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Date of Publication (online): | 2023/10/30 |
Year of first Publication: | 2021 |
Provider of the Publication Server: | FH Münster - University of Applied Sciences |
Release Date: | 2023/10/31 |
Volume: | 13 |
Issue: | 56 |
Faculties: | Sozialwesen (SW) |
Publication list: | Richter, Christian |
Licence (German): | Bibliographische Daten |