Intravenous drug users and broken needles-a hidden risk?

ABSTRACT Aims  To determine the frequency with which intravenous drug users (IDUs) experience broken needles during their injecting careers. Design  Cross‐sectional survey. Participants  Seventy intravenous drug users held in police custody in Bristol between May and September 2002. Measurements  Se...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Addiction (Abingdon, England) England), 2003-08, Vol.98 (8), p.1163-1166
Main Authors: Norfolk, Guy A., Gray, Selena F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Addiction
Addictive behaviors
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Biological and medical sciences
Breakage
Broken needles
Drug abuse
Drug addiction
Drug users
Drugs
Embolism - etiology
Embolization
Equipment Failure
Female
Foreign Bodies - etiology
Foreign Bodies - therapy
Health
Heart
Human viral diseases
Humans
Infectious diseases
Intravenous drug addicts
intravenous drug users
Male
Medical sciences
needle embolization
Needles
Needles - adverse effects
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Public health
Pulmonary Embolism - etiology
Risk
Risks
Substance Abuse, Intravenous - complications
Viral diseases
Viral diseases of the lymphoid tissue and the blood. Aids
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Summary:ABSTRACT Aims  To determine the frequency with which intravenous drug users (IDUs) experience broken needles during their injecting careers. Design  Cross‐sectional survey. Participants  Seventy intravenous drug users held in police custody in Bristol between May and September 2002. Measurements  Self‐reported history of experience of broken needles. Findings  Fourteen (20%, 95% CI 11–29%) had experienced a needle breaking while injecting. The total number of broken needles was 23, of which 14 (61%) were recovered, four by surgical intervention, and the remainder as a result of direct action by the individual. Of the 23 broken needles, nine (39%) were reported to be fresh needles, whereas the remainder were being re‐used. Conclusions  IDUs may well experience, directly or indirectly, incidents involving broken needles during the course of their injecting careers. Given the potential for embolization and the risk of subsequent complications when this occurs, we recommend that harm minimization guidance should include advice about this potential hazard and the need for early action to retrieve broken needles.
ISSN:0965-2140
1360-0443
DOI:10.1046/j.1360-0443.2003.00462.x