ORCID Profile
0000-0002-9445-4251
Current Organisations
National Institute of Technical Teachers' Training and Research Chandigarh
,
National Brain Research Centre
,
Burnet Institute
,
Curtin University
,
Monash University
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Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2023
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-09-2021
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2021
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 28-03-2023
DOI: 10.1186/S12954-023-00773-2
Abstract: A precipitous decline in health status among people recently released from prison is common. In Victoria, Australia, opioid agonist treatment (OAT) in the community involves frequent contact with primary care, potentially facilitating broader use of primary healthcare services. Among a cohort of men who injected drugs regularly pre-imprisonment, we estimated differences in rates of primary healthcare use and medication dispensation between people who did and did not receive OAT post-release. Data came from the Prison and Transition Health Cohort Study. Three-month post-release follow-up interviews were linked with primary care and medication dispensation records. Generalised linear models were fit with one exposure (OAT: none artial/complete) for 13 outcomes relating to primary healthcare use, pathology testing, and medication dispensation, adjusted for other covariates. Coefficients were reported as adjusted incidence rate ratios (AIRR). Analyses included 255 participants. Compared to no OAT use, both partial and complete OAT use were associated with increased rates of standard (AIRR: 3.02, 95%CI: 1.88–4.86 AIRR: 3.66, 95%CI: 2.57–5.23), extended (AIRR: 2.56, 95%CI: 1.41–4.67 AIRR: 2.55, 95%CI: 1.60–4.07) and mental health-related (AIRR: 2.71, 95%CI: 1.42–5.20 AIRR: 2.27, 95%CI: 1.33–3.87) general practitioner (GP) consultations, total medication (AIRR: 1.88, 95%CI: 1.19–2.98 AIRR: 2.40, 95%CI: 1.71–3.37), benzodiazepine (AIRR: 4.99, 95%CI: 2.81–8.85 AIRR: 8.30, 95%CI: 5.28–13.04) and gabapentinoid (AIRR: 6.78, 95%CI: 3.34–13.77 AIRR: 4.34, 95%CI: 2.37–7.94) dispensations, respectively. Partial OAT use was also associated with increased after-hours GP consultations (AIRR: 4.61, 95%CI: 2.24–9.48) and complete OAT use? with increased pathology utilisation (e.g. haematological, chemical, microbiological or immunological tissue/s le testing AIRR: 2.30, 95%CI: 1.52–3.48). We observed higher rates of primary healthcare use and medication dispensation among people who reported partial and complete OAT use post-release. Findings suggest that access to OAT post-release may have a collateral benefit in supporting broader health service utilisation, underscoring the importance of retention in OAT after release from prison.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2019
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 17-01-2022
DOI: 10.1111/DAR.13427
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-11-2023
DOI: 10.5694/MJA2.51774
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 07-12-2020
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-09-2020
DOI: 10.1111/ADD.15245
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-05-2023
DOI: 10.5694/MJA2.51943
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-06-2022
DOI: 10.1111/ADD.15971
Abstract: To estimate incidence of post‐release injecting drug use (IDU) among men who injected drugs before imprisonment and determine factors associated with post‐release IDU frequency. Prospective cohort study of men reporting monthly IDU before a period of sentenced imprisonment in Victoria, Australia, recruited between September 2014 and May 2016 ( n = 195). Any post‐release IDU and IDU frequency was measured via self‐report at 3‐month follow‐up interview. IDU frequency, measured over the preceding month, was categorised as no IDU, irregular IDU (1–4 days IDU) and regular IDU (≥5 days IDU). Incidence of any IDU was calculated at 3 months post‐release. Factors associated with IDU frequency were estimated using ordinal logistic regression. Most (83%) participants reported post‐release IDU (265 per 100 person‐years, 95% CI, 227–309) with half (48%) reporting regular IDU, 23% irregular IDU and 29% no IDU in the month preceding follow‐up. Poorer psychological well‐being at follow‐up (General Health Questionnaire [GHQ‐12] score adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.18 95% CI, 1.07–1.29) and post‐release unemployment (AOR, 4.57 95% CI, 1.67–12.49) were associated with increased IDU frequency. Retention in opioid agonist treatment (AOR, 0.49 95% CI, 0.24–0.98) was associated with reduced IDU frequency. Non‐linear (inverted‐u) associations between IDU frequency and age (age: AOR, 1.51 95% CI, 1.17–1.96 age‐squared: AOR, 0.99 95% CI, 0.99–0.99) and pre‐imprisonment IDU frequency (pre‐imprisonment IDU frequency: AOR, 1.36 95% CI, 1.15–1.61 pre‐imprisonment IDU frequency‐squared: AOR, 0.99 95% CI, 0.99–0.99) were found, with odds peaking at age 39 and 19 days IDU, respectively. Longer baseline sentence length was associated with reduced odds of irregular and regular IDU (AOR, 0.99 95% CI, 0.99–0.99). Among Australian men who inject drugs before imprisonment, resumption of injecting drug use after release from prison appears to be common, with imprisonment seeming to have little impact on reducing injecting drug use behaviour.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 13-01-2018
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-09-2018
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 09-02-2023
DOI: 10.1136/EMERMED-2022-212755
Abstract: People recently released from prison engage with emergency healthcare at greater rates than the general population. While retention in opioid agonist treatment (OAT) is associated with substantial reductions in the risk of opioid-related mortality postrelease, it is unknown how OAT affects contact with emergency healthcare. In a cohort of men who injected drugs regularly prior to imprisonment, we described rates of contact with ambulance services and EDs, and their associations with use of OAT, in the 3 months after release from prison. Self-report data from a prospective observational cohort of men who regularly injected drugs before a period of sentenced imprisonment, recruited between September 2014 and May 2016, were linked to state-wide ambulance and ED records over a 3-month postrelease period in Victoria, Australia. We used generalised linear models to estimate associations between OAT use (none/interrupted/retained) and contact with ambulance and EDs postrelease, adjusted for other covariates. Among 265 participants, we observed 77 ambulance contacts and 123 ED contacts over a median of 98 days of observation (IQR 87–125 days). Participants who were retained in OAT between prison release and scheduled 3-month postrelease follow-up interviews had lower rates of contact with ambulance (adjusted incidence rate ratio (AIRR) 0.33, 95% CI 0.14 to 0.76) and ED (AIRR 0.43, 95% CI 0.22 to 0.83), compared with participants with no OAT use postrelease. Participants with interrupted OAT use did not differ from those with no OAT use in rates of contact with ambulance or ED. We found lower rates of contact with emergency healthcare after release among people retained in OAT, but not among people reporting interrupted OAT use, underscoring the benefits of postrelease OAT retention. Strategies to improve accessibility and support OAT retention after leaving prison are important for men who inject drugs.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2022
DOI: 10.1016/J.DRUGPO.2022.103696
Abstract: The high burden of hepatitis C among people who inject drugs in Australia underscores the need to increase testing within this population. Understanding hepatitis C screening uptake in primary care settings is therefore critical to the development of effective and targeted strategies to improve hepatitis C testing for people who inject drugs. Primary care services that prescribe OAT are well-positioned to provide hepatitis C testing among a priority population at-risk of hepatitis C. This study used linked data from 5,429 in iduals attending ten clinical services participating in the Australian Collaboration for Coordinated Enhanced Sentinel Surveillance (ACCESS) who received their first recorded OAT prescription between 1 Approximately one in five in iduals (17%) received a hepatitis C antibody test in the 12 months following their first recorded OAT prescription. Over half of in iduals tested (56%) received a positive hepatitis C antibody test result. Hepatitis C antibody testing was higher among in iduals who attended 5-8 (aOR:2.98 95%CI:2.41-3.69) and 9+ (aOR:6.17 95%CI:5.13-7.43) clinical consultations, were women (aOR:1.20 95%CI:1.08-1.34) and whose first recorded OAT prescription occurred in 2017 vs. 2012 (aOR:1.39 95%CI:1.06-1.84). Hepatitis C antibody testing was lower among in iduals prescribed methadone (aOR:0.81 95%CI:0.73-0.91), and in iduals aged 60+ years vs. 18-29 years (aOR:0.67 95%CI:0.48-0.94). Despite high positivity rates, hepatitis C antibody testing among in iduals prescribed OAT remains low. There are opportunities for increased testing among populations exhibiting greater proportions of missed testing opportunities. Integrating routine hepatitis C screening in OAT settings will likely increase case-finding and contribute to Australia's hepatitis C elimination targets.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 24-09-2022
DOI: 10.1177/00048674211048143
Abstract: Community reintegration from prison is typically stressful, with several health and social outcomes impacting psychiatric well-being during this time, often exacerbated among in iduals with histories of drug use. Longitudinal data was used to assess change in psychiatric well-being over 2 years following release from prison among men who reported a recent history of injecting drug use. Data for this study come from the Prison and Transition Health cohort study of 400 men recruited in prison prior to release and followed up over three time points. Psychiatric well-being was assessed using the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. We calculated change in in idual General Health Questionnaire scores between interviews and identified covariates associated with General Health Questionnaire score using linear mixed-effects regression. Data from 690 follow-up interviews among 326 participants were included in analyses. There was considerable variation in in iduals' General Health Questionnaire scores. Moving accommodation frequently and frequent illicit drug injections were associated with an increase in General Health Questionnaire score (i.e. decline in psychiatric well-being). Two or more prior adult imprisonment episodes, social supports and past month primary healthcare attendance were associated with a decrease in General Health Questionnaire score. Our findings identify health, social and structural influences on psychiatric well-being after release from prison that can inform re-entry programmes to support community reintegration.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-10-2018
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-04-2019
Publisher: AMPCo
Date: 03-2016
DOI: 10.5694/MJA15.00783
Location: India
Location: India
Start Date: 2019
End Date: End date not available
Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council
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