Velhas e novas drogas: impactos da toxicodependência: estudo de caso na cidade de Braga

Dissertação de mestrado em Sociologia (área de especialização em Organizações e Trabalho)

Adolescent's suicide attempts: populations at risk, vulnerability, and substance use.

Adolescence corresponds to a transition period that requires adaptation and change capacities and skills. Most young people succeed with this challenge, whereas a minority fail. In order to identify with the teenage culture, become autonomous, and differentiate from their parents, some adolescents choose to use drugs, beginning with the use of cigarettes, alcohol, cannabis, followed by other illicit drugs such as opiates and stimulants. A high proportion of these adolescents attempt suicide, which is the primary cause of death during adolescence in many European countries. Who are the "vulnerable" adolescents? What are the mechanisms that can explain the varieties of drug-use initiation or suicide attempts? Can "protective factors" be identified? What kind of strategies might be developed at a social and political level in order to prevent or to minimize drug abuse and suicide attempts, among other harmful behaviors? These issues will be discussed on the basis of the recent literature and in the light of a recent study carried out in the French-speaking part of Switzerland on large cohorts of adolescent drug users. Unresolved critical issues are noted and future needed research is suggested.

French version of the addiction severity index (5th Edition): validity and reliability among Swiss opiate-dependent patients. French validation of the Addiction Severity Index.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to validate a French adaptation of the 5th version of the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) instrument in a Swiss sample of illicit drug users. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: The participants in the study were 54 French-speaking dependent patients, most of them with opiates as the drug of first choice. Procedure: Analyses of internal consistency (convergent and discriminant validity) and reliability, including measures of test-retest and inter-observer correlations, were conducted. RESULTS: Besides good applicability of the test, the results on composite scores (CSs) indicate comparable results to those obtained in a sample of American opiate-dependent patients. Across the seven dimensions of the ASI, Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.42 to 0.76, test-retest correlations coefficients ranged from 0.48 to 0.98, while for CSs, inter-observer correlations ranged from 0.76 to 0.99. CONCLUSIONS: Despite several limitations, the French version of the ASI presents acceptable criteria of applicability, validity and reliability in a sample of drug-dependent patients.

Hepatitis C virus prevalence among an immigrant community to the Southern Amazon, Brazil

A community-based random survey was conducted in a southern Brazilian Amazonian county aiming to investigate hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection prevalence and the association of demographic variables and lifestyle behaviours. Seven hundred eighty individuals were serologically screened with a third generation enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to detect anti-HCV antibodies between 1994/1995. Positive samples were retested for confirmation with a line immunoassay (LIA, Inno-LIA HCV Ab III). Most of these subjects were low income and came from southern Brazilian states (65.8). Two point four percent (IC 95% 1.2%- 4.6%) of the subjects had LIA-confirmed anti-HCV antibodies reactivity. The age-specific prevalence of HCV antibodies slightly increased with age, with the highest prevalence after the age of 40 years. The results of multivariate analysis indicate a strong association between HCV antibodies and previous surgery and history of intravenous drug use. There were no apparent association with gender, hepatitis B virus markers, blood transfusion, and sexual activity. Mean time living in Amazon did not differ between confirmed and negative anti-HCV individuals. The present data point out an intermediate endemicity of HCV infection among this immigrant community to the Amazon region and that few HCV infected participants presented known risk factors.

Impact of international consensus guidelines on antiviral therapy of chronic hepatitis C patients in Switzerland.

To assess the impact of international consensus conference guidelines on the attitude of Swiss specialists when facing the decision to treat chronic hepatitis C patients. Questionnaires focusing on the personal situation and treatment decisions were mailed to 165 patients who were newly diagnosed with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and enrolled into the Swiss Hepatitis C Cohort Study during the years 2002-2004. Survey respondents (n = 86, 52.1%) were comparable to non-respondents with respect to severity of liver disease, history of substance abuse and psychiatric co-morbidities. Seventy percent of survey respondents reported having been offered antiviral treatment. Patients deferred from treatment had less advanced liver fibrosis, were more frequently infected with HCV genotypes 1 or 4 and presented more often with a history of depression. There were no differences regarding age, socio-economic background, alcohol abuse, intravenous drug abuse or methadone treatment when compared with patients to whom treatment was proposed. Ninety percent of eligible patients agreed to undergo treatment. Overall, 54.6% of respondents and 78.3% of those considered eligible had actually received antiviral therapy by 2007. Ninety-five percent of patients reported high satisfaction with their own hepatitis C management. Consistent with latest international consensus guidelines, patients enrolled in the Swiss Hepatitis C Cohort with a history of substance abuse were not withheld antiviral treatment. A multidisciplinary approach is warranted to provide antiviral treatment to patients suffering from depression.

Shooting up 2009 revised final

Shooting Up Infections among injecting drug users in the united Kingdom 2008 - An update 2009

Shooting up Report 2008 (PDF 1.6MB)

Shooting Up: Infections among injecting drug users in the United Kingdom 2007- An Update: October 2008

Shooting Up - An Update: October 2007 (PDF 1208 KB)

Infections among injecting drug users in the United Kingdom 2006

Shooting Up An Update: October 2006 (PDF 1MB)

Infections among injecting drug users in the UK 2005 - An Update: October 2006

Prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus infection in alcoholics

To verify the prevalence of infection by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in alcoholics we studied 131 alcoholic patients (119 males and 12 females) with a mean age of 44.3 ± 10.8 years. Serum samples were collected from this group and analysed, by ELISA, for antibodies against HIV as well as for serological markers for hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). As we have previously described, we found a high prevalence of HBV (26.4%) and HCV (4.2%) markers as compared to the prevalence of these markers in samples of normal blood donors from Uberlândia's Hemocentro Regional, which are 4% and 0.4%, respectively. Of the 131 patients, four (3%) had antibodies against HIV, three (75%) of which were injecting drug users (IDU). In the HIV-negative group, only one patient was an IDU. The prevalence of HIV in our population, according to data from the city's Health Secretary, varies from 3.1% to 6.2%. We conclude that, at least for the moment, alcoholism per se, did not constitute an important risk factor for HIV infection. However, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a rather recent disease as compared to hepatitis B and C and, as the transmission routes are similar for HIV and hepatitis viruses, an increase in the incidence of HIV infection in alcoholics may be just a question of time.

Shooting Up - An Update: October 2005 (PDF 455 KB)

Infections Among Injecting Drug Users in the UK 2004

Prevalence of hepatitis B and C virus markers among malaria-exposed gold miners in Brazilian Amazon

Hepatitis B and C virus markers were assessed during a survey on malaria in gold mine camps in southern Brazilian Amazon in order to identify risk factors associated to these viral diseases. The study comprised 520 subjects, most of them were gold miners. Missing subjects totaled 49 (8.6%). Among these 520, 82.9% had HBV markers and 7.1% were HBsAg positive. Previous hospitalization, surgery, sexually transmitted diseases and incarceration were quite common among surveyed people, but there is no association between total HBV markers and these factors. On other hand, HBsAg was independently associated to history of sexually transmitted diseases and history of surgery after adjustment. The most frequent HBsAg subtypes identified, adw2 (59%), predominates in populations of Northeast Brazil. The most surveyed people were immigrants coming from that area suggesting that immigrants carried HBV themselves to the study area. Immunoblot (RIBA) confirmed-anti-HCV were found in 2.1%. The only variable associated to anti-HCV in multivariate analysis was illicit intravenous drug. Lack of HCV infection in subjects with such a high HBV markers prevalence reinforces the opinion that HCV is transmitted by restricted routes when compared to HBV. Furthermore, gold miners in Amazon may be considered as a risk group for HBV infection, but not for HCV.

Shooting Up - An Update: October 2004 (PDF 369 KB)

Infections Among Drug Users in the UK 2003

Influència dels tractaments mèdics i psicoterapèutics en la disminució del delicte en població addicta a drogues

En l'àmbit judicial es constata una relació entre drogoaddicció i delicte. Els addictes a drogues han iniciat amb freqüència algun programa de desintoxicació o han sol·licitat suport mèdic o psicològic. L'estudi es proposa avaluar l'associació entre la conducta il·legal i l'abús de substàncies tòxiques, així com interpretar l'eficàcia dels tractaments terapèutics en la disminució d’aquesta associació, i les repercussions de les teràpies tant sobre els pacients com sobre el seu entorn. És un estudi observacional prospectiu d’una mostra de 100 subjectes que tenen relació amb el consum de drogues d'abús, al Jutjat de Guàrdia de Barcelona i en subjectes interns del Centre Penitenciari de Joves de Barcelona. Els resultats de l’estudi diuen que el sexe masculí hi està representat en un 94%, la mitjana d’edat és de 25,5 anys, amb baix nivell d’estudis i sense professió qualificada. Gairebé la meitat de la mostra són estrangers i solters. Els pacients estudiats són politoxicòmans amb un consum majoritari de cocaïna (92%), cannabis (87%), alcohol (71%) i el 54% d’heroïna. Destaca l’alta freqüència dels UDVP i de la positivitat als tres virus (VIH, VHC, VHB), tot i que es demostra el descens de l’ús de la via parenteral. El 73% dels subjectes comenten delictes contra la propietat. El 93% de la mostra han estat en tractament, però en períodes curts (70%). El 72,7% que estan en PMM consumeixen habitualment cocaïna. Els pacients tractats amb psicofàrmacs són detinguts menys vegades que la resta de pacients. Pocs pacients han fet tractaments combinats amb psicoteràpia o lliure de drogues. Entre la població de detinguts, els tractaments rebuts han resultat beneficiosos pel que fa a autoestima, autoagressivitat, heteroagressivitat, conflictivitat penal i violència en els fets delictius, però aquestes variables quasi no es modifiquen en el cas dels joves. Els tractaments produeixen un benefici als pacients toxicòmans i disminueixen la conflictivitat penal. Els tractaments s’han d’iniciar en els primers estadis del consum, així com potenciar l’adhesió i el seguiment. Els centres penitenciaris de justícia juvenil, les comissaries i els jutjats de guàrdia són els llocs idonis per a l’abordatge del tractament del drogodependent.

Shooting Up - An Update: December 2003 (PDF 190 KB)

Infections Among Drug Users in the UK 2003