%0 Journal Article
%T Prevalence and incidence of emergency department presentations and hospital separations with injecting-related infections in a longitudinal cohort of people who inject drugs.
%A Curtis SJ
%A Colledge-Frisby S
%A Stewardson AJ
%A Doyle JS
%A Higgs P
%A Maher L
%A Hickman M
%A Stoové MA
%A Dietze PM
%J Epidemiol Infect
%V 151
%N 0
%D 2023 Nov 13
%M 37953739
%F 4.434
%R 10.1017/S0950268823001784
%X People who inject drugs are at risk of acute bacterial and fungal injecting-related infections. There is evidence that incidence of hospitalizations for injecting-related infections are increasing in several countries, but little is known at an individual level. We aimed to examine injecting-related infections in a linked longitudinal cohort of people who inject drugs in Melbourne, Australia. A retrospective descriptive analysis was conducted to estimate the prevalence and incidence of injecting-related infections using administrative emergency department and hospital separation datasets linked to the SuperMIX cohort, from 2008 to 2018. Over the study period, 33% (95%CI: 31-36%) of participants presented to emergency department with any injecting-related infections and 27% (95%CI: 25-30%) were admitted to hospital. Of 1,044 emergency department presentations and 740 hospital separations, skin and soft tissue infections were most common, 88% and 76%, respectively. From 2008 to 2018, there was a substantial increase in emergency department presentations and hospital separations with any injecting-related infections, 48 to 135 per 1,000 person-years, and 18 to 102 per 1,000 person-years, respectively. The results emphasize that injecting-related infections are increasing, and that new models of care are needed to help prevent and facilitate early detection of superficial infection to avoid potentially life-threatening severe infections.