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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Meredith Becker Buxton, MPH, Center for Urban Epidemiological Studies, New York Academy of Medicine, 1216 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10029, 212-304-5552, mjb57@columbia.edu, David Vlahov, PhD, Center for Urban Epidemiologic Studies, New York Academy of Medicine, 1216 Fifth Ave, New York, NY 10029, S.A. Strathdee, PhD, School Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, 615 North Wolfe Street, E6010, Baltimore, MD 21205, Don C. Des Jarlais, PhD, Beth Israel Medical Center and National Development and Research Institutes, New York, New York, 71 West 23d Street, New York, NY 10010, Edward V Morse, PhD, Department of Pediatrics SL-37, Tulane University, 1430 Tulane Ave, New Orleans, LA 70112, Lawrence Ouellet, PhD, Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1603 W. Taylor Street, Chicago, IL 60612, Peter Kerndt, MD, MPH, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services Sexually Transmitted Disease Program, 2615 S. Grand Ave., Rm. 500, Los Angeles, CA 90007, and Richard S Garfein, PhD, MPH, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Epidemiology Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, MS E-45, Atlanta, GA 30333.
Objectives: With some reports of HIV infection among injection drug users (IDUs) showing higher rates soon after initiation of drug use, the objective of this analysis was to determine whether recent drug risk behaviors were more common among IDUs in the first two years compared to more than two years after initiation.
Methods: IDUs were street recruited between 1997 and 1999 as a part of a multisite prospective cohort study in five US urban areas. Recent drug use behaviors (injecting with others the last time injected and injecting on average more than in the last 6 months) were examined across three sequential cohorts defined by years of injecting drug use: 0-1 years, 2-3 years, and 4-6 years.
Results: Of the 1836 subjects included in the sample, the 0-1 year IDUs group (n=619) was more likely than the 4-6 year group (n=520) to report injecting with others, the last time injected (OR=1.52, 95% CI=1.20-1.94) and to inject on average more than they did in the last six months (OR=1.44, 95% CI=1.12-1.86). The associations remained after multivariate adjustment for demographic variables (age, sex, race/ethnicity, site of recruitment, marital status, and homelessness).
Conclusions: Shorter-term new initiates are more likely to inject with others, suggesting a greater reliance on others, which may increase their risk of infection. These data suggest that prevention programs should target newly initiated IDUs and those at high risk for becoming an injector.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Injection Drug Users, Risk Behavior
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.