Correlates of Overdose Risk Perception among Illicit Opioid Users
BACKGROUND:
Opioid-related
mortality continues to increase in the United States. The current study
assesses demographic and behavioral predictors of perceived overdose risk among
individuals who use opioids illicitly. By examining these correlates in the
context of established overdose risk factors, we aim to assess whether
characteristics and behaviors that have been associated with actual overdose
risk translate to higher perception of risk.
METHODS:
We
conducted a cross-sectional survey of 172 adult illicit opioid users in San
Francisco, CA and used multivariable logistic regression to identify predictors
of perception of high risk for opioid overdose.
RESULTS:
Age
(aOR=0.96, 95%CI=0.93-1.00) and number of injection days per month (0.91,
0.86-0.97) were associated with a lower odds of perceived high overdose risk.
There was no independent association between use of opioid analgesics,
concurrent use of opioids and benzodiazepines or cocaine, or HIV status and
overdose risk perception.
CONCLUSIONS:
Opioid
users who injected more frequently and those who were older were less likely to
perceive themselves as being at risk of overdose, notwithstanding that those
who inject more are at higher risk of overdose and those who are older are at
higher risk overdose mortality. In addition, despite being established overdose
risk factors, there was no relationship between use of opioid analgesics,
concurrent use of opioids and cocaine or benzodiazepines, or self-reported HIV
status and overdose risk perception. These findings highlight key populations
of opioid users and established risk factors that may merit focused attention
as part of education-based overdose prevention and opioid management strategies.
- 1San Francisco Department of Public Health, 25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94102, USA. Electronic address: chris.rowe@sfdph.org.
- 2San Francisco Department of Public Health, 25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94102, USA; University of California, San Francisco, 500 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
- 3San Francisco Department of Public Health, 25 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94102, USA.
- Drug Alcohol Depend. 2015 Dec 30. pii: S0376-8716(15)01833-5. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.12.018.
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