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. 2023 Apr 19;52(2):562-576.
doi: 10.1093/ije/dyac120.

Impact of drug consumption rooms on non-fatal overdoses, abscesses and emergency department visits in people who inject drugs in France: results from the COSINUS cohort

P Roux  1 , M Jauffret-Roustide  2   3   4 , C Donadille  1 , L Briand Madrid  1 , C Denis  5   6   7   8 , I Célérier  9 , C Chauvin  2 , N Hamelin  10 , G Maradan  9 , M P Carrieri  1 , C Protopopescu  1 , L Lalanne  10   11 , M Auriacombe  6   7   8 ; COSINUS Study Group
Collaborators, Affiliations

Impact of drug consumption rooms on non-fatal overdoses, abscesses and emergency department visits in people who inject drugs in France: results from the COSINUS cohort

P Roux et al. Int J Epidemiol. .

Abstract

Background: The effectiveness of drug consumption rooms (DCRs) for people who inject drugs (PWID) has been demonstrated for HIV and hepatitis C virus risk practices, and access to care for substance use disorders. However, data on other health-related complications are scarce. Using data from the French COSINUS cohort, we investigated the impact of DCR exposure on non-fatal overdoses, abscesses and emergency department (ED) visits, all in the previous 6 months.

Methods: COSINUS is a 12-month prospective cohort study of 665 PWID in France studying DCR effectiveness on health. We collected data from face-to-face interviews at enrolment, and at 6 and 12 months of follow-up. After adjusting for other correlates (P-value < 0.05), the impact of DCR exposure on each outcome was assessed using a two-step Heckman mixed-effects probit model, allowing us to adjust for potential non-randomization bias due to differences between DCR-exposed and DCR-unexposed participants, while taking into account the correlation between repeated measures.

Results: At enrolment, 21%, 6% and 38% of the 665 participants reported overdoses, abscesses and ED visits, respectively. Multivariable models found that DCR-exposed participants were less likely to report overdoses [adjusted coefficient (95% CI): -0.47 (-0.88; -0.07), P = 0.023], abscesses [-0.74 (-1.11; -0.37), P < 0.001] and ED visits [-0.74 (-1.27; -0.20), P = 0.007].

Conclusion: This is the first study to show the positive impact of DCR exposure on abscesses and ED visits, and confirms DCR effectiveness in reducing overdoses, when adjusting for potential non-randomization bias. Our findings strengthen the argument to expand DCR implementation to improve PWID injection environment and health.

Keywords: Safer injecting facility; abscess; emergency department; injection drug users; overdose; risk environment; skin and soft tissue infections.

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