Reduction in needle sharing among seattle-area injection drug users across 4 surveys, 1994-2013

R.D. Burt and H. Thiede

American Journal of Public Health, 2016, vol. 106, issue 2, 301-307

Abstract: Objectives.Weevaluated time trends in sharing needles and other injection equipment from 1994 to 2013 among injection drug users in the Seattle, Washington area. Methods. We combined data from 4 sources: the Risk Activity Variables, Epidemiology, and Network (RAVEN) study, recruited from institutional settings; the Kiwi study, recruited from jails; National HIV Behavioral Surveillance system (NHBS) surveys, which used respondent-driven sampling; and surveys at needle-exchange sites. Results. Levels of needle sharing were higher in the earlier studies: RAVEN, 1994 to 1997 (43%) and Kiwi, 1998 to 2002 (61%). In the NHBS surveys, the initial level of 44% in 2005 declined to 31% in the period 2009 to 2012. Across needle-exchange surveys (2009-2013) the level was 21%. There was a parallel reduction in sharing other injection equipment.These trends persisted after control for sociodemographic and risk-associated variables. There was a contemporaneous increase in the number of needles distributed by local needle exchanges and a decline in the number of reported HIV cases among injection drug users. Conclusions. The apparent long-term reduction in sharing injection equipment suggests substantial success in public health efforts to reduce the sharing of injection equipment.

Keywords: adolescent; adult; adverse effects; drug abuse; drug use; female; high risk behavior; HIV Infections; human; longitudinal study; male; middle aged; multivariate analysis; questionnaire; statistics and numerical data; substance abuse; trends; Washington; young adult, Adolescent; Adult; Drug Users; Female; HIV Infections; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Middle Aged; Multivariate Analysis; Needle Sharing; Risk-Taking; Substance Abuse, Intravenous; Surveys and Questionnaires; Washington; Young Adult (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302959

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2015.302959_7

DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2015.302959

Access Statistics for this article

American Journal of Public Health is currently edited by Alfredo Morabia

More articles in American Journal of Public Health from American Public Health Association
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Christopher F Baum ().