Is handedness associated with health outcomes for people who inject illicit drugs?
Approximately 10% of the global population is left-handed. Much research has been directed at handedness and health, with reports of left-handers suffering higher rates of numerous health conditions, accidents, injuries and ultimately, significantly reduced lifespans. Most previous research focused...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Informa Healthcare
2009
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24072 |
| _version_ | 1848751327818022912 |
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| author | Aitken, C. Dwyer, Robyn Spelman, T. Power, R. |
| author_facet | Aitken, C. Dwyer, Robyn Spelman, T. Power, R. |
| author_sort | Aitken, C. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Approximately 10% of the global population is left-handed. Much research has been directed at handedness and health, with reports of left-handers suffering higher rates of numerous health conditions, accidents, injuries and ultimately, significantly reduced lifespans. Most previous research focused on 'well' or general-population samples; no previous investigations of the effects of handedness on injecting drug users' (IDUs) health are known. Aim: To investigate associations between handedness and health outcomes among IDUs-a marginalized population subgroup with significantly worse health than average. Methods: A total of 346 self-identified left- (9.5%) or right-handed current IDUs were recruited in the Australian states of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria in late 2006 and interviewed about their health and behaviour. Findings: Many socio-demographic, health status and injury occurrence variables were evaluated univariately, but only two were significantly associated with handedness. Left-handers were significantly less likely to report recent scarring or bruising, and significantly more likely to report accidentally penetrating an artery; these variables were also significantly and independently associated (negatively and positively, respectively) with handedness in binary logistic regression. Conclusions: The lack of biological plausibility of the aforementioned variables' associations with handedness, and the contradiction in their directions of association, suggest that left-handedness among IDUs is not associated with significantly worse health outcomes. © 2009 Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:50:58Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-24072 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T07:50:58Z |
| publishDate | 2009 |
| publisher | Informa Healthcare |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-240722017-09-13T13:57:04Z Is handedness associated with health outcomes for people who inject illicit drugs? Aitken, C. Dwyer, Robyn Spelman, T. Power, R. Approximately 10% of the global population is left-handed. Much research has been directed at handedness and health, with reports of left-handers suffering higher rates of numerous health conditions, accidents, injuries and ultimately, significantly reduced lifespans. Most previous research focused on 'well' or general-population samples; no previous investigations of the effects of handedness on injecting drug users' (IDUs) health are known. Aim: To investigate associations between handedness and health outcomes among IDUs-a marginalized population subgroup with significantly worse health than average. Methods: A total of 346 self-identified left- (9.5%) or right-handed current IDUs were recruited in the Australian states of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria in late 2006 and interviewed about their health and behaviour. Findings: Many socio-demographic, health status and injury occurrence variables were evaluated univariately, but only two were significantly associated with handedness. Left-handers were significantly less likely to report recent scarring or bruising, and significantly more likely to report accidentally penetrating an artery; these variables were also significantly and independently associated (negatively and positively, respectively) with handedness in binary logistic regression. Conclusions: The lack of biological plausibility of the aforementioned variables' associations with handedness, and the contradiction in their directions of association, suggest that left-handedness among IDUs is not associated with significantly worse health outcomes. © 2009 Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved. 2009 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24072 10.1080/09687630802562988 Informa Healthcare restricted |
| spellingShingle | Aitken, C. Dwyer, Robyn Spelman, T. Power, R. Is handedness associated with health outcomes for people who inject illicit drugs? |
| title | Is handedness associated with health outcomes for people who inject illicit drugs? |
| title_full | Is handedness associated with health outcomes for people who inject illicit drugs? |
| title_fullStr | Is handedness associated with health outcomes for people who inject illicit drugs? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Is handedness associated with health outcomes for people who inject illicit drugs? |
| title_short | Is handedness associated with health outcomes for people who inject illicit drugs? |
| title_sort | is handedness associated with health outcomes for people who inject illicit drugs? |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24072 |