Risk factors for skin infections in injection drug users
Author Information
Author(s): Lloyd-Smith Elisa, Wood Evan, Zhang Ruth, Tyndall Mark W, Montaner Julio SG, Kerr Thomas
Primary Institution: BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital
Hypothesis
What are the risk factors for developing cutaneous injection-related infections among injection drug users?
Conclusion
Female sex, unstable housing, borrowing syringes, requiring help injecting, and daily cocaine use are associated with a higher risk of cutaneous injection-related infections.
Supporting Evidence
- Female sex was associated with a higher risk of CIRI (AOR = 1.68).
- Unstable housing increased the risk of CIRI (AOR = 1.49).
- Borrowing used syringes was linked to a higher risk of CIRI (AOR = 1.60).
- Requiring help injecting was associated with an increased risk of CIRI (AOR = 1.42).
- Daily cocaine injection was linked to a higher risk of CIRI (AOR = 1.41).
Takeaway
This study found that some people who use drugs and inject them can get skin infections, especially if they are women, live in unstable housing, or share needles.
Methodology
A longitudinal analysis using generalized linear mixed-effects modeling was conducted on data from the Scientific Evaluation of Supervised Injection cohort.
Potential Biases
Potential social desirability bias due to reliance on self-reported data.
Limitations
The study may not be generalizable to all injection drug users, relies on self-reported data, and could not examine certain behaviors due to low reporting.
Participant Demographics
The cohort included 1065 participants, with 29% being female and a median age of 36 years.
Statistical Information
P-Value
p<0.05
Confidence Interval
95% CI: 1.16–2.43 for female sex; 95% CI: 1.10–2.03 for unstable housing; 95% CI: 1.03–2.48 for borrowing syringes; 95% CI: 1.03–1.94 for requiring help injecting; 95% CI: 1.02–1.95 for injecting cocaine daily.
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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