TY - JOUR
T1 - Needle acquisition patterns, network risk and social capital among rural PWID in Puerto Rico
AU - Duncan, Ian
AU - Habecker, Patrick
AU - Abadie, Roberto
AU - Curtis, Ric
AU - Khan, Bilal
AU - Dombrowski, Kirk
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Author(s).
PY - 2017/10/18
Y1 - 2017/10/18
N2 - Background: People who inject drugs (PWID) take on significant risks of contracting blood-borne infection, including injecting with a large number of partners and acquiring needles from unsafe sources. When combined, risk of infection can be magnified. Methods: Using a sample of PWID in rural Puerto Rico, we model the relationship between a subject's number of injection partners and the likelihood of having used an unsafe source of injection syringes. Data collection with 315 current injectors identified six sources of needles. Results: Of the six possible sources, only acquisition from a seller (paid or free), or using syringes found on the street, was significantly related to number of partners. Conclusions: These results suggest that sources of syringes do serve to multiply risk of infection caused by multi-partner injection concurrency. They also suggest that prior research on distinct forms of social capital among PWID may need to be rethought.
AB - Background: People who inject drugs (PWID) take on significant risks of contracting blood-borne infection, including injecting with a large number of partners and acquiring needles from unsafe sources. When combined, risk of infection can be magnified. Methods: Using a sample of PWID in rural Puerto Rico, we model the relationship between a subject's number of injection partners and the likelihood of having used an unsafe source of injection syringes. Data collection with 315 current injectors identified six sources of needles. Results: Of the six possible sources, only acquisition from a seller (paid or free), or using syringes found on the street, was significantly related to number of partners. Conclusions: These results suggest that sources of syringes do serve to multiply risk of infection caused by multi-partner injection concurrency. They also suggest that prior research on distinct forms of social capital among PWID may need to be rethought.
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U2 - 10.1186/s12954-017-0195-5
DO - 10.1186/s12954-017-0195-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 29047371
AN - SCOPUS:85031673928
VL - 14
JO - Harm Reduction Journal
JF - Harm Reduction Journal
SN - 1477-7517
IS - 1
ER -