COVID-19 and Substance Use Disorders: Recommendations to a Comprehensive Healthcare Response. An International Society of Addiction Medicine Practice and Policy Interest Group Position Paper

Ali Farhoudian^{1

2}, Alexander Baldacchino³, Nicolas Clark^{4

5}, Gilberto Gerra⁶, Hamed Ekhtiari⁷, Geert Dom⁸, Azarakhsh Mokri¹, Mandana Sadeghi⁹, Pardis Nematollahi¹⁰, Maryanne Demasi⁴, Christian G Schütz¹¹, Seyed Mohammadreza Hash-Emian¹², Payam Tabarsi¹³, Susanna Galea-Singer¹⁴, Giuseppe Carrà¹⁵, Thomas Clausen¹⁶, Christos Kouimtsidis¹⁷, Serenella Tolomeo¹⁸, Seyed Ramin Radfar^{2

19}, Emran Mohammad Razaghi¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
² Substance Abuse and Dependence Research Center, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
³ Division of Population and Behavioral Sciences, St Andrews University Medical School, University of St Andrews, UK.
⁴ North Richmond Community Health, Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.
⁵ Royal Melbourne Hospital, Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.
⁶ Drug Prevention and Health Branch, Division for Operations, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Vienna, Austria.
⁷ Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.
⁸ Collaborative Antwerp Psychiatric Research Institute, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
⁹ Aftab Mehrvarzi Substance Abuse Treatment Center, Tehran, Iran.
¹⁰ Cancer Prevention Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
¹¹ Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC, Canada.
¹² Chronic Respiratory Diseases Research Center, National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
¹³ Clinical Tuberculosis and Epidemiology Research Center, National Research Institute for Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (NRITLD), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
¹⁴ Institute for Innovation and Improvement, IWaitematâ DHB, Centre for Addictions Research, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
¹⁵ Department of Medicine and Surgery, Section of Psychiatry, University of Milan Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
¹⁶ Norwegian Centre for Addiction Research (SERAF); University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
¹⁷ General Secretariat of Prime Minister, Ministry of Health, Athens, Greece.
¹⁸ Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore.
¹⁹ Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA.

PMID: 32855772
PMCID: PMC7368103
DOI: 10.32598/bcn.11.covid19.1

COVID-19 and Substance Use Disorders: Recommendations to a Comprehensive Healthcare Response. An International Society of Addiction Medicine Practice and Policy Interest Group Position Paper

Ali Farhoudian et al. Basic Clin Neurosci. 2020 Mar-Apr.

. 2020 Mar-Apr;11(2):133-150.

doi: 10.32598/bcn.11.covid19.1. Epub 2020 Apr 12.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
² Substance Abuse and Dependence Research Center, University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
³ Division of Population and Behavioral Sciences, St Andrews University Medical School, University of St Andrews, UK.
⁴ North Richmond Community Health, Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.
⁵ Royal Melbourne Hospital, Victoria, Melbourne, Australia.
⁶ Drug Prevention and Health Branch, Division for Operations, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Vienna, Austria.
⁷ Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.
⁸ Collaborative Antwerp Psychiatric Research Institute, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
⁹ Aftab Mehrvarzi Substance Abuse Treatment Center, Tehran, Iran.
¹⁰ Cancer Prevention Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
¹¹ Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC, Canada.
¹² Chronic Respiratory Diseases Research Center, National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
¹³ Clinical Tuberculosis and Epidemiology Research Center, National Research Institute for Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (NRITLD), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
¹⁴ Institute for Innovation and Improvement, IWaitematâ DHB, Centre for Addictions Research, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
¹⁵ Department of Medicine and Surgery, Section of Psychiatry, University of Milan Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
¹⁶ Norwegian Centre for Addiction Research (SERAF); University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.
¹⁷ General Secretariat of Prime Minister, Ministry of Health, Athens, Greece.
¹⁸ Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore.
¹⁹ Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA.

PMID: 32855772
PMCID: PMC7368103
DOI: 10.32598/bcn.11.covid19.1

Abstract

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is escalating all over the world and has higher morbidities and mortalities in certain vulnerable populations. People Who Use Drugs (PWUD) are a marginalized and stigmatized group with weaker immunity responses, vulnerability to stress, poor health conditions, high-risk behaviors, and lower access to health care services. These conditions put them at a higher risk of COVID-19 infection and its complications. In this paper, an international group of experts on addiction medicine, infectious diseases, and disaster psychiatry explore the possible raised concerns in this issue and provide recommendations to manage the comorbidity of COVID-19 and Substance Use Disorder (SUD).

Keywords: Addiction medicine; Coronavirus; Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19); Harm reduction; Methadone; Opioid substitution therapy; Pandemic; Policy; Public health; Substance use disorder.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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COVID-19 and Substance Use Disorders: Recommendations to a Comprehensive Healthcare Response. An International Society of Addiction Medicine Practice and Policy Interest Group Position Paper

Affiliations

COVID-19 and Substance Use Disorders: Recommendations to a Comprehensive Healthcare Response. An International Society of Addiction Medicine Practice and Policy Interest Group Position Paper

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

References

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources