Investigators

Doctor Campbell Aitken, Michael Curtis, Professor Paul Dietze, Associate Professor Peter Higgs, Penny Hill, Danielle Horyniak, Amy Kirwan, Dr Ashleigh Stewart


Background

SuperMIX is a cohort of people who inject drugs (PWID) that has been running in various forms at the Burnet Institute since 2008. The original cohort of 688 was recruited between 2008 and 2010 with an additional 69 participants added to the cohort in 2011, making MIX/SuperMIX the largest cohort study of PWID ever conducted in Australia.

In 2017 we began recruiting additional participants to bring the overall cohort size up to around 1280 and we continue to follow these people through to the end of 2021.


Aims

SuperMIX will provide important information about how injecting drug use evolves over time, focused on periods during which cohort members cease injecting drug use and if they subsequently relapse and the drivers of this cessation and relapse. This information is crucial for designing services and interventions for promoting long-term cessation from, and preventing subsequent relapse into, injecting drug use.


Methods

SuperMIX collects information through annual self-report interviews, and record linkage to the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS), Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), the National Death Index (NDI), Alcohol and Drug Information System (ADIS) treatment data, Victorian Ambulance Clinical Information System (VACIS), the Victorian Emergency Minimum Dataset (VEMD), and the Victorian Admitted Episode Dataset.


Publications

2018

Are people who inject drugs frequent users of emergency department services? A cohort study (2008-2013).
Nambiar D, Spelman T, Stoové M, Dietze P
Subst Use Misuse. 2018 Feb; 53(3):457-465

The association between intentional overdose and same-sex sexual intercourse in a cohort of people who inject drugs in Melbourne, Australia.
O'Keefe D, Bowring A, Aitken C, Dietze P
Subst Use Misuse. 2018 Feb; 53(5):755-762

Assessing individual-level needle and syringe coverage parameters and the measurement of coverage in Melbourne, Australia: methods and impacts.
O'Keefe D, Scott N, Aitken C, Dietze P
J Public Health. 2018 Jan; 40(3):e336-e342

2017

A prospective cohort study of hospital separations among people who inject drugs in Australia: 2008-2013.
Nambiar D, Stoové M, Hickman M, Dietze P
BMJ Open. 2017 Aug; 7(8):e014854

Longitudinal changes in personal wellbeing in a cohort of people who inject drugs.
Scott N, Carrotte ER, Higgs P, Stoové MA, Aitken CK, Dietze PM
PLoS One. 2017 May; 12(5):e0178474

Frequent emergency department presentations among people who inject drugs: A record linkage study.
Nambiar D, Stoové M, Dietze P
Int J Drug Policy. 2017 May; 44:115-120

The effects of needle-sharing and opioid substitution therapy on incidence of hepatitis C virus infection and reinfection in people who inject drugs.
Aitken CK, Agius PA, Higgs PG, Stoové MA, Bowden DS, Dietze PM
Epidemiol Infect. 2017 Mar; 145(4):796-801

2016

Longitudinal changes in psychological distress in a cohort of people who inject drugs in Melbourne, Australia.
Scott N, Carrotte ER, Higgs P, Cogger S, Stoové MA, Aitken CK, Dietze PM
Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 2016 Aug; 168:140-146

Individual-level needle and syringe coverage in Melbourne, Australia: a longitudinal, descriptive analysis.
O'Keefe D, Scott N, Aitken C, Dietze P
BMC Health Serv Res. 2016 Aug; 16(1):411

Age-related differences in patterns of criminal activity among a large sample of polydrug injectors in Australia.
Horyniak D, Dietze P, Degenhardt. L, Agius P, Higgs P, Bruno R, Alati R, Burns L
J Subst Abuse. 2016 Jan; 22(1):48-56

From initiating injecting drug use to regular injecting: Retrospective survival analysis of injecting progression within a sample of people who inject drugs regularly.
O'Keefe D, Horyniak D, Dietze P
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2016 Jan; 158:177-180

2015

Mortality in the Melbourne injecting drug user cohort study (MIX).
Nambiar D, Agius PA, Stoové M, Hickman M, Dietze P
Harm Reduct J. 2015 Dec; 12(1):55

Patterns of, and Factors Associated With, Illicit Pharmaceutical Opioid Analgesic Use in a Prospective Cohort of People Who Inject Drugs in Melbourne, Australia.
Horyniak D, Agius PA, Degenhardt L, Reddel S, Higgs P, Aitken C, Stoové M, Dietze P
Subst Use Misuse. 2015 Nov; 50(13):1650-1659

Cessation of injecting drug use: The effects of health service utilisation, drug use and demographic factors.
Nambiar D, Agius PA, Stoové M, Hickman M, Dietze P
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2015 Jun; 154:208-213

How patterns of injecting drug use evolve in a cohort of people who inject drugs.
Scott N, Caulkins JP, Ritter A, Dietze P
Trend Issues Crime Crim Justice. 2015 Jun; 502:1-20

Patterns of drug preference and use among people who inject drugs in Melbourne, Australia
Scott N, Caulkins JP, Ritter A, Dietze P
Addict Res Theory. 2015 Apr; 23(6):459-468

How do drug market changes affect characteristics of injecting initiation and subsequent patterns of drug use? Findings from a cohort of regular heroin and methamphetamine injectors in Melbourne, Australia.
Horyniak D, Stoové M, Degenhardt L, Aitken C, Kerr T, Dietze P
Int J Drug Policy. 2015 Jan; 26(1):43-50

Mortality and cause of death in a cohort of people who had ever injected drugs in Glasgow: 1982-2012.
Nambiar D, Weir A, Aspinall EJ, Stoové M, Hutchinson S, Dietze P, Waugh L, Goldberg DJ
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2015 Jan; 147:215-221

High-Frequency Drug Purity and Price Series as Tools for Explaining Drug Trends and Harms in Victoria, Australia.
Scott N, Caulkins JP, Ritter A, Quinn C, Dietze P
Addiction. 2015 Jan; 110(1):120-128

2014

Experiences of and Attitudes Toward Injecting Drug Use Among Marginalized African Migrant and Refugee Youth in Melbourne, Australia.
Horyniak D, Higgs P, Cogger S, Dietze P, Bofu T, Seid G
J Ethn Subst Abuse. 2014 Oct; 13(4):405-429

A cross-sectional study describing factors associated with utilisation of GP services by a cohort of people who inject drugs.
Nambiar D, Stoové M, Dietze P
BMC Health Serv Res. 2014 Jul; 14:308

Are users' most recent drug purchases representative?
Bond B, Caulkins JP, Scott N, Kilmer B, Dietze P
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2014 Jun; 142:133-138

2013

Establishing the Melbourne injecting drug user cohort study (MIX): rationale, methods, and baseline and twelve-month follow-up results.
Horyniak D, Higgs P, Jenkinson R, Degenhardt L, Stoové M, Kerr T, Hickman M, Aitken C, Dietze P
Harm Reduct J. 2013 Jun; 10(1):11

Concordance between self-reported and actual hepatitis C virus infection status in a cohort of people who inject drugs.
O'Keefe D, Aitken C, Higgs P, Dietze P
Drug Alcohol Rev. 2013 Feb; 32(2):208-210

The relationship between alcohol use and injecting drug use: Impacts on health, crime and wellbeing.
Dietze P, Jenkinson R, Aitken C, Stoové M, Jolley D, Hickman M, Kerr T
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2013 Feb; 128(1-2):111-115

A response to: Self-reported and actual hepatitis C virus infection status.
O'Keefe D, Aitken C, Higgs P, Dietze P
Drug Alcohol Rev. 2013 Jan; 32(1):107


Timeline

2010 – 2021

Contact

For more information relating to this project, please contact Paul Dietze: