Sex Differences in Injection Drug Risk Behaviors Among Hospitalized Persons

Objectives As opioid use increases, it remains important to assess factors that contribute to injection drug risk behaviors, as sharing needles and other drug use equipment contributes to the spread of human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis C virus. Such risks may differ by sex and injecting with others. The current study examined factors that contribute to increased injection drug risk separately for men and women. Methods People who inject drugs were recruited at an academic safety-net hospital that reported recent injection drug use. Two main injection outcomes were assessed: (1) human immunodeficiency virus drug risk behaviors as assessed by the Risk Assessment Battery and (2) the number of times participants injected drugs with a needle used by someone else. For each outcome, different models for women and men were conducted to detect differences by sex. Results Both men and women were more likely to inject with a needle used by someone else if they used drugs within a sexual relationship (incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 14.61, P
Source: Journal of Addiction Medicine - Category: Addiction Tags: Original Research Source Type: research