a Department of Nursing, School of Nursing , Larestan University of Medical Sciences , Larestan , Iran.
b Social Determinants of Health Research Center , University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences , Tehran , Iran.
Subst Use Misuse. 2019;54(2):185-190. doi: 10.1080/10826084.2018.1491055. Epub 2018 Nov 26.
Global estimates suggest there are 15.6 million people who inject drugs (PWID) of whom 17.8% are living with HIV.Few studies have characterized newly-onset injectors with long-term injectors and its association with injecting risk behaviors.
We examined the relationship between length of injection and risk behaviors among people who inject drugs (PWID) in Tehran, Iran.
A cross-sectional study was conducted among PWID, from March to August 2016 in Tehran, Iran. PWID were recruited by convenience and snowball sampling from five Drop-in Centers (DIC) located in the south of Tehran. Our primary independent variable was length of injecting career, defined as the number of months since injecting initiation. Those defined as new injectors (were injecting for less than 18 months), and long-term injectors (as injecting drugs for more than 18 months). We reported the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) point estimate and 95% confidence interval (CI95%) as the effect measure. The level of significance used in multiple logistic regression model was 0.05. We used STATA v. 11 for all analyzes.
The analytical sample comprised of 500 participants (100% male). Mean (±SD) age of PWID with a length of injection history was 31.2 ± 7.2 years. Overall, 270 (54%) (CI95%: 49.6%, 58.4%) of participants were long-term injectors. The average age of drug use initiation among long-term injectors group was lower as compared to new injectors group (31.2 vs. 29.4, p < 0.001). The odds of distributive syringe sharing among new injectors were two times higher than long-term injectors (AOR = 2.1, 95% CI 1.4-4.7). The odds of receptive syringe sharing were lower among new injectors group (AOR = 0.7, CI95% 0.2-0.87), compared to long-term injectors. New injectors had higher odds of reusing their own syringes (OR = 2.8, 95% CI: 1.4-5.7; p = 0.01).
Improvements in harm reduction service provision can occur through taregted risk reduction education for new injectors focusing on reducing distributive syringe sharing among them.
全球估计有 1560 万注射吸毒者（PWID），其中 17.8%感染了 HIV。很少有研究对新注射吸毒者和长期注射吸毒者进行特征描述及其与注射风险行为的关系。
我们研究了伊朗德黑兰新注射吸毒者和长期注射吸毒者之间的关系。
这是一项横断面研究，于 2016 年 3 月至 8 月在伊朗德黑兰进行。通过便利抽样和滚雪球抽样，从位于德黑兰南部的五个吸毒者中途康复中心（DIC）招募 PWID。我们的主要自变量是注射吸毒的时间，定义为开始注射以来的月数。新注射吸毒者（注射吸毒不到 18 个月）和长期注射吸毒者（注射吸毒超过 18 个月）。我们报告了调整后的比值比（aOR）点估计值和 95%置信区间（CI95%）作为效应量。多逻辑回归模型中使用的显著性水平为 0.05。我们使用 STATA v.11 进行所有分析。
分析样本包括 500 名参与者（100%为男性）。有注射吸毒史的 PWID 的平均（±SD）年龄为 31.2±7.2 岁。总体而言，270 名（54%）（95%CI：49.6%，58.4%）参与者为长期注射吸毒者。长期注射吸毒者组的药物使用起始年龄低于新注射吸毒者组（31.2 岁比 29.4 岁，p<0.001）。与长期注射吸毒者相比，新注射吸毒者共享分配注射器的几率高两倍（AOR=2.1，95%CI 1.4-4.7）。与长期注射吸毒者相比，新注射吸毒者组接受注射器共享的几率较低（AOR=0.7，CI95%0.2-0.87）。与长期注射吸毒者相比，新注射吸毒者有更高的几率重复使用自己的注射器（OR=2.8，95%CI：1.4-5.7；p=0.01）。
通过针对新注射吸毒者的有针对性的减少风险教育，改善减少伤害服务的提供，可以减少他们之间分配注射器的共享。
