Are people who use methamphetamine at increased risk of physical violence? Results from a nationally representative...

The association between methamphetamine use and violent behaviour has received much attention in the research. The risk of violent victimisation among people who use methamphetamine is comparatively underexplored. People who use methamphetamine appear to be at a high risk of violent victimisation, but no studies have examined this association in a population-based representative survey. The aim of the current study was to examine the association between methamphetamine use and violent victimisation using a nationally representative sample of Australians.

Observational study.

Australia.

18 805 individuals aged 15 years or over.

Outcome variable: whether a respondent reported having been a victim of violence in the past 12 months. Exposure variable: frequency of methamphetamine use in the past 12 months (no use, every few months, monthly or more often). Co-variates: age, gender, financial stress, personal stress, long-term health condition, social isolation, cocaine use, drinking consumption, remoteness of area and survey year. Analyses were exploratory.

1.27% of the sample reported violence victimisation in the past 12 months, and 1.33% reported methamphetamine use (0.71% every few months; 0.62% monthly or more often). After adjusting for covariates, the odds of being a victim of violence in the preceding 12 months were higher for those who used methamphetamine every few months [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 5.94; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.95-18.06], and once a month or more often (aOR = 9.04; 95% CI = 3.48-23.45) than for those who had not used methamphetamine in the past year. Predicted probabilities indicated an estimated 11 709 (95% CI = 9473-13 953) excess violent victimisations attributable to methamphetamine use.

Methamphetamine use appears to be associated with an elevated risk of being a victim of violence. The population-level effects of methamphetamine use on violence may be small but are likely to have substantial public health implications in communities experiencing high levels of methamphetamine use.