Logo image
Back
The association between neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and high-risk injection behavior among people who inject drugs
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

The association between neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and high-risk injection behavior among people who inject drugs

Jennifer DeCuir, Gina S Lovasi, Abdulrahman El-Sayed and Crystal Fuller Lewis
Drug and alcohol dependence, v 183, pp 184-191
01 Feb 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.10.025
PMID: 29288913
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
url
https://europepmc.org/articles/pmc5927611View
Accepted (AM)Open Access (License Unspecified),  Open

Abstract

Adult Female HIV Infections - economics HIV Infections - epidemiology HIV Infections - psychology Humans Law Enforcement Male Middle Aged Needle Sharing - economics Needle Sharing - psychology Needle-Exchange Programs - economics New York City - epidemiology Police - economics Police - psychology Residence Characteristics Social Class Substance Abuse, Intravenous - economics Substance Abuse, Intravenous - epidemiology Substance Abuse, Intravenous - psychology Surveys and Questionnaires Syringes - economics
Although much research has been conducted on the determinants of HIV risk behavior among people who inject drugs (PWID), the influence of the neighborhood context on high-risk injection behavior remains understudied. To address this gap in the literature, we measured associations between neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and high-risk injection behavior, and determined whether these associations were modified by drug-related police activity and syringe exchange program (SEP) accessibility. Our sample was comprised of 484 pharmacy-recruited PWID in New York City. Measures of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage were created using data from the 2006-2010 American Community Survey. Associations with high-risk injection behavior were estimated using multivariable Poisson regression. Effect modification by drug-related police activity and SEP accessibility was assessed by entering cross-product terms into adjusted models of high-risk injection behavior. Neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with decreased receptive syringe sharing and unsterile syringe use. In neighborhoods with high drug-related police activity, associations between neighborhood disadvantage and unsterile syringe use were attenuated to the null. In neighborhoods with high SEP accessibility, neighborhood disadvantage was associated with decreased acquisition of syringes from an unsafe source. PWID in disadvantaged neighborhoods reported safer injection behaviors than their counterparts in neighborhoods that were relatively better off. The contrasting patterns of effect modification by SEP accessibility and drug-related police activity support the use of harm reduction approaches over law enforcement-based strategies for the control of blood borne virus transmission among PWID in disadvantaged urban areas.

Metrics

6 Record Views
9 citations in Web of Science
9 citations in Scopus

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being

InCites Highlights

Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:

Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Psychiatry
Substance Abuse
Logo image