Prevalence and correlates of needle-sharing among new and long-term injection drug users in southwest China.

Three community-based surveys recruited 4,310 injection drug users (IDUs) in China from 2004 to 2006. Of the participants, 54.4% were ≤ 3-year new IDUs; 63.9% reported injecting more than two times daily; 31.5% shared needles in the last six months; 37.4% shared equipments in the last month; 30.2% reported their regular sex partners injected drugs; and 23.5% had commercial sex, with 52.2% reporting no condom use during last sex. The risky injection practices (sharing needles/equipments and high injection frequency) were less frequent among new IDUs, emphasizing that effective prevention needs to identify and intervene with IDUs early on. The study's limitations are noted.