The VMAX cohort study follows more than 850 people who use methamphetamine recruited from metropolitan Melbourne and 3 regions of rural Victoria.
Methamphetamine use is a significant public health issue in Australia. It’s associated with a range of harms that increased significantly in line with:
- major changes to the methamphetamine market
- changes in the behaviour of people who use the drug.
There a few prospective studies of methamphetamine use in Australia. In 2016, we established the VMAX cohort study to determine patterns of methamphetamine use and harm in metropolitan and rural Victoria.
People in the study complete follow-up surveys once a year. They also consent to us linking administrative data obtained from health and social services to our cohort study data.
VMAX is part of a broader study called MIXMAX. This combines VMAX with SuperMIX—a study collecting data on injecting drug use over time—to form the largest active cohort study of people who use drugs in Australia.
About the study
As at November 2020, our sample looked like the following:
- 77% were people who used methamphetamine via non-injecting means.
- 39% were female.
- Participants were recruited from Melbourne and three non-metropolitan Victorian regions.
For more information, read: A prospective cohort of people who use methamphetamine in Melbourne and non-metropolitan Victoria, Australia: Baseline characteristics and correlates of methamphetamine dependence
Our impact
VMAX data is used to determine the nature and extent of methamphetamine use and harm in Victoria. The data has been used to determine issues related to drug driving and service provision across Victoria.
Published research
Key publications
Quinn B, Ward B, Agius PA, Jenkinson R, Hickman M, Sutton K, Hall C, McKetin R, Farrell M, Cossar R, Dietze PM. Drug Alcohol Rev. 2021 Nov;40(7):1239-1248.
More information
For more information, please contact paul.dietze@burnet.edu.au.
Funding partners
Colonial Foundation Trust
National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). Grant IDs: 1148170, 2023690.
Partners and collaborators
Monash Rural Health (Bernadette Ward)
British Columbia Centre on Substance Use (Thomas Kerr)
Curtin University (Jocelyn Jones, Samantha Colledge-Frisby, Michael Curtis)
Deakin University (Paul Agius)
University of Bristol (Matthew Hickman)
Monash University School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine (James Trauer)
UNSW Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales (Lisa Maher)
Alfred Health (Andrew Stewardson)
Harm Reduction Victoria (Sione Crawford)
Royal Melbourne Hospital (Nicholas Clark)
Burnet project team
Student projects
We're looking for postgraduate students to join related research projects in 2025. Click on a project for more information.
