Association between route of illicit drug administration and hospitalizations for infective endocarditis. (13th December 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Olubamwo, Olubunmi; Onyeka, Ifeoma N; Aregbesola, Alex; Ronkainen, Kimmo; Tiihonen, Jari; Föhr, Jaana; Kauhanen, Jussi
• Is Part Of: SAGE open medicine. Volume 5(2017)
• Publication Date: 2017-12-13
• Subjects: Infective endocarditis -- hospitalization -- substance abuse -- cohort study -- injecting drug use -- register linkage; Medicine -- Periodicals; 610.5
• DOI: 10.1177/2050312117740987
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2050-3121

Abstract

Objective: This study examined the association between the route of drug administration and being hospitalized for infective endocarditis among 4817 treatment-seeking illicit drug users in Finland. Methods: Cox regression models were used to examine the association between the route of drug administration and infective endocarditis hospitalization, adjusted for age, gender, and homelessness. Cases of infective endocarditis as a primary/main diagnosis were tracked using the 10th version of the International Classification of Disease code I33. Results: In all, 47 persons had a primary diagnosis of infective endocarditis. These 47 persons contributed a total of 95 hospitalizations and their total length of hospital stay was 1393 days. There was a statistically significant difference in hospitalizations between injectors and non-injectors (Log-Rank test p = 0.018). Univariate Cox model showed that injectors had higher hazard or risk for infective endocarditis hospitalization compared to non-injectors (hazard ratio: 2.04, 95% confidence interval: 1.12–3.73, p = 0.020). After adjusting for age, gender, and homelessness in the multivariate model, the elevated hazard among injectors compared to non-injectors remained statistically significant with adjusted hazard ratio of 2.12 (95% confidence interval: 1.11–4.07, p = 0.024). Conclusion: The study findings suggested a need to boost harm reduction measures targeting high-risk injecting and other health behaviors among injecting drug users in order to reduce their hospitalizations for infective endocarditis.