[An 1-year prospective cohort study on mortality of injecting drug users].
OBJECTIVE
To study the mortality among injecting drug users (IDUs) from an IDUs cohort in Liangshan of Sichuan province.


METHODS
In November 2002, 376 injecting drug users were recruited and followed up for 1 year as part of a prospective cohort study. Socio-demographics and risk behaviors on drug use were recorded. After one year, the mortality rate was estimated and risk factors for mortality were analyzed using Cox regression.


RESULTS
Out of the original cohort of 376 participants, there were 28 reported and confirmed deaths during the one year follow-up period. The mortality rate of the cohort was 77.32 per 1000 person-years (95% CI: 48.68 - 105.95) with the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) as 47.62 (95% CI: 31.63 - 68.71). Out of the 28 deaths, 64.3% (18/28) caused by overdoses of drug. No variables were found to be associated with death of all causes, but being un-married and >or= 9 year history of injecting drugs were found to be associated with overdose-related mortality in the final model of Cox regression. The hazard ratios were 4.51 (95% CI: 1.03 - 19.67) and 2.77 (95% CI: 1.10 - 7.00) respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Overdose served the most frequent cause of deaths in Liangshan of Sichuan province. Future studies should be conducted to focus on mortality and risk factors associated with mortality among IDUs to provide targeted interventions in reducing unnatural mortality.
Zhang
Li
L
School of Public Health, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100005, China.
Ruan
Yu-hua
YH
Jiang
Zheng-qing
ZQ
Yang
Zheng-ning
ZN
Liu
Shi-zhu
SZ
Zhou
Feng
F
He
Yi-xin
YX
Yin
Lu
L
Qin
Guang-ming
GM
Shao
Yi-ming
YM
D000328:Adult; D002423:Cause of Death; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006556:Heroin Dependence / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000401:mortality*