Table 1 Studies discussing dose and frequency of intravenous buprenorphine use
Study citation | Location | Study population | Study design | Year data was collected | Buprenorphine formulation injected | Dose/frequency of use reported | Quality Assessment [1–5] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aalto [52] | Kotka, Finland | 27 people who use IV buprenorphine | Quantitative descriptive | 2004–2005 |  | Dose: 8.1 mg/day | 2 |
Ahmadia,% [67] | Shiraz, Iran | 204 males who use IV buprenorphine | Clinical trial | 2002 | Buprenorphine ampoules | Dose: mean = 3.86 amps/day (SD = 2.61), range 1–19 amps/day. *1 amp contains 0.3 mg of buprenorphine in 1 ml, therefore a mean daily dose of 1.16 mg/day (SD = 0.78), range 0.3–5.7 mg/day | 3 |
Ahmadib,% [26] | Shiraz, Iran | 204 males who use IV buprenorphine | Clinical trial | 2002 | Buprenorphine ampoules | Dose: mean = 3.7 amps/day (SD = 2.6), range 1–19 amps/day. *1 amp contains 0.3 mg of buprenorphine in 1 ml, therefore a mean daily dose of 1.1 mg/day (SD = 0.78), range 0.3–5.7 mg/day | 3 |
Ahmadic [68] | Shiraz, Iran | 108 males who use IV buprenorphine | Clinical trial | 2002 | Buprenorphine ampoules | Dose: mean = 4.6 amps/day (SD = 3.1), range 1–17 amps/day. *1 amp contains 0.3 mg of buprenorphine in 1 ml, therefore a mean daily dose of 1.38 mg/day (SD = 0.93), range 0.3–5.1 mg/day | 3 |
Ahmed [51] | Dhaka, Bangladesh | 30 males with extramedical use of buprenorphine | Quantitative descriptive | 1995 | Buprenorphine ampoules | Dose: Range < 1–10 amps/day, 60% used 2–5 amps per day. *1 amp contains 0.6 mg of buprenorphine in 2 ml therefore range of < 0.6–6 mg/day, 60% used 1.2–3 mg/day; Frequency range 1–10 times/day, 86.7% used 2–5 times daily | 2 |
Aich [69] | Bhairahawa, Nepal | 76 people with OUD | Quantitative descriptive | 2003–2004 | Buprenorphine ampoules | Dose: 0.6 mg/injection; Frequency: 2–4 times/day | 4 |
Aitken [27] | Melbourne, Australia | 316 PWID | Quantitative descriptive | 2005–2006 | SL buprenorphine (spitbacks) | Dose: 2-12 mg/day; Frequency: 10.4–10.5 times /week | 3 |
Alho [70] | Helsinki, Finland | 176 people needle exchange clients | Quantitative descriptive | 2005 | SL buprenorphine and BNX | Dose: 7 mg/day; Frequency: 81.8% daily users (41.6% 3–4 injections/day) | 3 |
Ambekar [28] | Multiple sites in India | 902 male PWIDs at harm reduction centres | Quantitative descriptive | Â | Buprenorphine ampoules | Frequency: 48.9% daily injectors; 66.2% more than one injection/day on using days | 3 |
Basu [71] | Chandigarh, India | 3 males (30, 26, 25 years) who use IV buprenorphine | Case series |  | Buprenorphine ampoules | 1st case: 0.3 mg 2–3 times per day, escalating to 2–4 times that dose; 2nd case: 1.8 mg daily; case 3: 2.4 mg daily | 1 |
Basu [72] | Chandigarh, India | 94 males with extramedical use of buprenorphine | Quantitative descriptive | 1987–1993 | Buprenorphine ampoules | Dose: 1.8 mg/day | 2 |
Bruce [73] | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | 19 males who use IV buprenorphine | Case series | 2006 | SL buprenorphine | Dose: 1-4 mg/injection; Frequency: 2–4 times/day | 2 |
Bruce [35] | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | 41 people who use IV buprenorphine | Quantitative descriptive | 2007 | SL buprenorphine and BNX | Dose: 1.9 mg/day before BNX, 2.5 mg/day with BNX; Frequency: 3.9–4.3 injections/day | 3 |
Chowdhury [74] | Guwahati, India | 38 year old male | Case study |  | SL buprenorphine | Dose: 0.8–1.6 mg/day | 1 |
Feeney [75] | Brisbane, Australia | 24Â year old female | Case study | Â | SL buprenorphine | Dose: 8Â mg/injection | 1 |
Horyniak [76] | Melbourne, Australia | 23 people who use IV buprenorphine | Mixed methods | 2006 | SL buprenorphine and BNX (mixed with saliva or lemon juice) | Frequency: up to four times/day among daily injectors | 4 |
Kulaksızoglu [77] | Antalya, Turkey | 19 year old male | Case study | 2018 | SL BNX (dissolved in hot water) | Dose: 10 mg/day | 1 |
Kumar [50] | Madras, India | 100 PWIDs | Quantitative descriptive | 1998 | SL buprenorphine | Frequency: 92.8% 1–3 times/day; 7.1% more than 4 times/day | 4 |
Lavelle [78] | Glasgow, Scotland | 78 clients from residential drug treatment centres | Quantitative descriptive | 1989–1990 | SL buprenorphine | Dose: 1.5 mg/day; Frequency: 243 using days/year; 58% 5–7 days/week | 3 |
Lee [79] |  | mid-40 s female | Case study |  | SL buprenorphine (dissolved in hot water) | Dose: 1–3 tablets/injection | 1 |
Liu [80] | Multiple sites in China | 1235 people with OUD and a history of buprenorphine use for at least three days | Quantitative descriptive | 2000–2001 | SL buprenorphine | Dose: 0.5–0.8 mg/injection; Frequency: 2.0–2.8 times/day | 4 |
Nizamie (1990) | India | 32 year old male | Case study | 1988 | Buprenorphine ampoules | Dose: 2–4 amps/day | 1 |
Ng [81] | Singapore, Singapore | 120 people who use IV buprenorphine | Quantitative descriptive | 2005–2006 | SL buprenorphine | Dose: 7.4–9.0 mg/day | 3 |
Obadia [82] | Marseille, France | 343 PWIDs | Quantitative descriptive | 1997 | SL buprenorphine | Frequency: 60.2–76.8% inject once a day or more | 5 |
Otiashvili [83] | Multiples sites in Georgia | 381 PWIDs | Quantitative descriptive | 2007 | SL buprenorphine | Dose: 1-8Â mg/injection (44% injected 1Â mg, 45.8% 2Â mg, 9% 4Â mg, 0.56% 8Â mg) | 3 |
Peyrière [60] |  | 33 year old male and 50 year old male | Case series | 2007 | SL buprenorphine | Dose: 4 mg/injection; frequency: 3–5 times/day | 2 |
Piralishvili [84] | Tbilisi, Georgia | 80 people who use IV buprenorphine | Clinical trial | 2011 | SL BNX | Dose: 1.75Â mg/day; Frequency: 15.2Â days in the past 30Â days | 4 |
Quigley [31] | West Perth, Australia | 24Â year old male who uses IV buprenorphine | Case report | 1983 | Buprenorphine ampoules | Dose: 4.5Â mg/day | 1 |
Robinson [34] | Wellington, New Zealand | 2 consecutive surveys (54 and 44 people respectively) presenting for OUD treatment | Quantitative descriptive | 1990–1992 | SL buprenorphine and BNX | Dose: 0.6 mg of buprenorphine/injection on first survey, 0.4/0.34 mg of BNX/injection on second survey | 3 |
Roux [47] | Multiple sites in France | 111 clients receiving OAT with buprenorphine | Quantitative descriptive | 2004–2005 | SL buprenorphine | Frequency: 5% reported at least daily injection | 5 |
Roux [57] | Multiple sites in France | 371 PWID with OUD | Quantitative descriptive | 2015 | SL buprenorphine | Dose: median of 12 mg/day; Frequency: median of 3 injections/day (IQR: 2–4) | 4 |
San [85] | Barcelona, Spain | 188 (1988) and 197 (1990) heroin-dependent individuals | Quantitative descriptive | 1988 and 1990 | SL buprenorphine | Dose: 0.6–0.8 mg/day (1990) and 1.4–4.1 mg/day (1988) | 5 |
Singh [86] | India | 24 year old male | Case study |  | Buprenorphine ampoules | Dose: 24 mg/day, later 2.4–3.6 mg/day; Frequency: 5–6 injections/day | 1 |
Singh [87] | Chandigarh, India | 18 people with extramedical buprenorphine use | Case series | 1987–1990 | Buprenorphine ampoules | Dose: mean = 3 mg/day, range = 1-7 mg/day Frequency: 3–4 injections/day | 3 |
Torrens [88] | Barcelona, Spain | 22 buprenorphine and 45 heroin-dependent individuals | Quantitative descriptive | 1988–1989 | SL buprenorphine | Dose: 1.9 mg/day; Frequency: 3–4 times/day | 4 |
Valenciano [89] | Multiple sites in France | 1004 clients at syringe-exchange programs | Quantitative descriptive | 1998 | SL buprenorphine | Frequency: 1 injection/day | 4 |
Vicknasingam [90] | Multiple sites in Malaysia | 276 people who use IV buprenorphine; for the second wave 77/276 were re-interviewed 77/276 and additional 171 new participants included | Mixed methods | 2006–2007 | SL buprenorphine for first survey, BNX in second survey | Dose: first wave—96% used up to 2 mg/injection, second wave 81% used up to 2 mg/using day; Frequency: first wave—63% reported at least daily use, second wave—34% reported at least daily use | 3 |
White [91] | Multiple sites in Australia | 16 people who inject BNX films | Qualitative | 2012–2013 | Buccal BNX (films; spitbacks) | Frequency: 37.5% used daily, of which 83.4% (31.2% of the total) used > 5 times/day | 5 |
Winslow [92] | Singapore, Singapore | 120 people with extramedical use of buprenorphine, enrolled in treatment | Quantitative descriptive | 2005–2006 | SL buprenorphine | Dose: 7.7 (SD 4.8) mg/day | 3 |
Winslow [93] | Singapore, Singapore | 106 PWIDs presenting to an addictions management programme | Quantitative descriptive | 2005–2006 | SL buprenorphine | Frequency: "many" injected 3–4 times/day | 5 |
Winstock [94] | Multiple sites in Australia | 442 clients receiving methadone and 66 receiving supervised buprenorphine at community pharmacies | Quantitative descriptive | 2005 | SL buprenorphine | Dose: median amount injected on last injection was 6 mg (mean = 5.8; SD = 3.1; range = 2–10 mg) | 4 |
Yeo [95] | Singapore, Singapore | 8 clients aged 26–46 | Case series | 2005 | SL buprenorphine (tablets dissolved in hot water) | Dose: 1-2 mg/injection (one of the cases) | 2 |