Estimated Drug Overdose Deaths Averted by North America's First Medically-Supervised Safer Injection Facility

2008

Estimating Drug Overdose Deaths Averted by a Safer Injection Facility in Vancouver

Sample size: 1004 publication Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): M-J. S. Milloy, Thomas Kerr, Mark Tyndall, Julio Montaner, Evan Wood

Primary Institution: British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, Canada

How many overdose deaths could be averted by a medically supervised safer injection facility in Vancouver?

The study estimated that the safer injection facility could have prevented between 8 and 51 overdose deaths during the study period.

Between March 1, 2004 and July 1, 2008, there were 1004 overdose events in the facility.
Of the 1004 overdose events, 453 were classified as potentially fatal.
The facility hosted approximately 5% of the daily injections in the Downtown Eastside.

A safer injection facility in Vancouver helped save lives by preventing drug overdose deaths.

The study used a Monte Carlo simulation to estimate the number of overdose deaths averted based on non-fatal to fatal overdose ratios.

The study relied on estimates for several model parameters, which may affect the accuracy of the results.

Participants were injection drug users in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

95% CI: 23.6–78.1; 9.6–15.7; 6.5–10.4

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