Polydrug use and heterogeneity in HIV risk among people who inject drugs in Estonia and Russia: a latent class analysis
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Non-medical drug injection is a major risk factor for HIV infection in Russia and Estonia. Multiple drug use (polydrug) has further been associated with increased harms. We compared HIV, injecting and sexual risk associated with polydrug use among people who injected drugs (PWID) in 2012–2013 in Kohtla-Järve (Estonia, n = 591) and St Petersburg (Russia, n = 811). Using latent class analysis, we identified five (poly)drug classes, the largest consisting of single-drug injectors among whom an opioid was the sole drug injected (56% of PWID). The four remaining polydrug classes included polydrug-polyroute injectors who injected and used opiates and stimulants (9%), opiate-stimulant poly-injectors who injected amphetamine-type-stimulants with a primary opiate (7%) and opiate-opioid poly-injectors who injected opioids and opiates (16%). Non-injection stimulant co-users were injectors who also used non-injection stimulants (12%). In multivariable multinomial regressions, all four polydrug classes were associated with greater injection risks than single-drug injection, while opiate-stimulant and opiate-opioid poly-injection were also associated with having multiple sex partners. Riskier behaviours among polydrug-injectors suggest increased potential for transmission of blood-borne and sexually-transmitted infections. In addition to needles/syringes provision, services tailored to PWID drug and risk profiles, could consider drug-appropriate treatment and sexual risk reduction strategies to curb HIV transmission.
Date Issued
2017-07-11
Date Acceptance
2017-06-16
Citation
AIDS and Behavior, 2017, 22 (4), pp.1329-1340
ISSN
1090-7165
Publisher
Springer Verlag (Germany)
Start Page
1329
End Page
1340
Journal / Book Title
AIDS and Behavior
Volume
22
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2017. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
Subjects
Amphetamines
Eastern Europe
HIV
Heroin/opioid
Latent class analysis
People who inject drugs
Polydrug use
Risk behaviours
1117 Public Health And Health Services
Public Health
Publication Status
Published