Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Aug 26;18(1):92.
doi: 10.1186/s12954-021-00539-8.

Drug use, homelessness and health: responding to the opioid overdose crisis with housing and harm reduction services

Katrina Milaney  1 , Jenna Passi  2 , Lisa Zaretsky  3 , Tong Liu  4 , Claire M O'Gorman  5 , Leslie Hill  6 , Daniel Dutton  4
Affiliations

Drug use, homelessness and health: responding to the opioid overdose crisis with housing and harm reduction services

Katrina Milaney et al. Harm Reduct J. .

Abstract

Background: Canada is in the midst of an opioid overdose crisis and Alberta has one of the highest opioid use rates across the country. Populations made vulnerable through structural inequities who also use opioids, such as those who are unstably housed, are at an increased risk of experiencing harms associated with opioid use. The main purpose of this study was to explore if there was an association between unstable housing and hospital use for people who use opioids.

Methods: Analysis utilized self-reported data from the Alberta Health and Drug Use Survey which surveyed 813 Albertans in three cities. Hospital use was modeled using a logistic regression with our primary variable of interest being housing unstable status. Chi square tests were conducted between hospital use and variables associated with demographics, characteristics of drug use, health characteristics, and experiences of receiving services to establish model inclusion.

Results: Results revealed a significant association between housing instability and hospital use with unstably housed individuals twice as likely torequire hospital care.

Conclusions: Results highlight the importance of concurrently addressing housing instability alongside the provision of harm reduction services such as safe supply and supervised consumption sites. These findings have significant implications for policy and policymakers during the opioid overdose epidemic, and provide a foundation for future areas of research.

Keywords: Harm reduction; Homelessness; Hospital use; Opioids.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

References

    1. Alberta Health Services. FAQs Supervised consumption services. 2016. https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/assets/info/amh/if-amh-supervised-c.... Accessed 20 November 2019.
    1. Alberta Health Services. Safeworks monthly report—May 2020. Supervised consumption sites. 2020 https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/assets/info/amh/ifamh-sup-con-chumi.... Accessed 15 September 2020.
    1. Amari E, Rehm J, Goldner E, Fischer B. Nonmedical prescription opioid use and mental health and pain comorbidities: A narrative review. Can J Psychiatry. 2011;56(8):495. doi: 10.1177/070674371105600808. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Baggett TP, Hwang S, O’Connell W, Porneala JJ, Stringfellow BC, Orav EJ, Rigotti NA. Mortality among homeless adults in Boston: shifts in causes of death over a 15-year period. JAMA Internal Med. 2013;173(3):189. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.1604. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baggett TP, Chang Y, Singer DE, Porneala BC, Gaeta JM, O’Connell JJ, Rigotti NA. Tobacco-, alcohol-, and drug-attributable deaths and their contribution to mortality disparities in a cohort of homeless adults in Boston. Am J Public Health. 2015;105(6):1189–1197. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2014.302248. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Substances