Table 2.
Univariate Associations Between PWID Who Did and Did Not Accept COVID-19 Testing following the LinkUP Intervention (n = 150)
| Characteristics | Tested (n = 116; 77.3%) |
Not tested (n = 34; 22.7%) | Total (n = 150; 100%) |
Univariate RR (95% CI) |
p-Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intervention factors | |||||
| Active LinkUP intervention group | 69 (59.5%) | 6 (17.6%) | 75 (50.0%) | 1.45 (1.18,1.78) | <.001 |
| Median length of counseling duration (in minutes; interquartile range [IQR]) | 25.0 (20.0, 30.0) | 20.0 (20.0, 30.0) | 25.0 (20.0, 30.0) | 1.00 (0.99,1.01) | .73 |
| Socio-demographic factors | |||||
| Male sex at birth | 74 (63.8%) | 23 (67.6%) | 97 (64.7%) | 0.96 (0.79,1.17) | .69 |
| Median age (IQR) | 41.5 (35.0, 52.0) | 38.0 (32.0, 48.0) | 40.5 (34.0, 51.0) | 1.01 (1.00,1.01) | .27 |
| Hispanic/Latinx/Mexican | 35 (30.2%) | 15 (44.1%) | 50 (33.3%) | 0.86 (0.63,1.18) | .36 |
| Speaks English | 115 (99.1%) | 33 (97.1%) | 148 (98.7%) | 1.05 (1.03,1.08) | <.001c |
| Median # of years of education completed (IQR) | 12.0 (10.0, 13.0) | 11.5 (10.0, 12.0) | 12.0 (10.0, 12.0) | 1.01 (0.97,1.05) | .61 |
| Monthly income < $500 USD | 51 (44.0%) | 18 (52.9%) | 69 (46.0%) | 0.91 (0.77,1.08) | .28 |
| Homeless* | 83 (71.6%) | 27 (79.4%) | 110 (73.3%) | 0.93 (0.82,1.07) | .31 |
| Slept in shelter or welfare residence* | 12 (10.3%) | 2 (5.9%) | 14 (9.3%) | 1.10 (0.79,1.54) | .58 |
| Incarcerated* | 18 (15.7%) | 2 (5.9%) | 20 (13.4%) | 1.13 (1.00,1.28) | .06 |
| Engaged in sex work* | 4 (3.4%) | 2 (5.9%) | 6 (4.0%) | 0.85 (0.55,1.31) | .46 |
| Substance use behaviors | |||||
| Injected meth* | 80 (69.0%) | 20 (58.8%) | 100 (66.7%) | 1.11 (0.90,1.36) | .35 |
| Injected cocaine* | 12 (10.3%) | 0 (0.0%) | 12 (8.0%) | 1.34 (1.04,1.72) | .02 |
| Injected either heroin or fentanyl* | 83 (71.6%) | 27 (79.4%) | 110 (73.3%) | 0.96 (0.84,1.10) | .53 |
| Health-related factors | |||||
| Lacks health insurance | 17 (14.7%) | 3 (8.8%) | 20 (13.3%) | 1.11 (0.97,1.27) | .12 |
| Ever had a flu vaccine a | 53 (47.3%) | 15 (44.1%) | 68 (46.6%) | 1.05 (0.89,1.23) | .57 |
| Tested HIV+ b | 7 (6.6%) | 1 (3.1%) | 8 (5.8%) | 1.18 (0.85,1.63) | .32 |
| Tested HCV+ c | 49 (46.7%) | 18 (56.3%) | 67 (48.9%) | 0.93 (0.78,1.11) | .42 |
| Attended a syringe exchange program* | 89 (76.7%) | 28 (82.4%) | 117 (78.0%) | 0.93 (0.79,1.10) | .42 |
| Had any COVID-19 symptoms (past week) | 58 (50.0%) | 18 (52.9%) | 76 (50.7%) | 0.99 (0.81,1.23) | .96 |
| COVID-19 related factors | |||||
| Median # for: on a scale of 1–10, how worried are you about getting COVID-19 (or getting it again; IQR) | 4.0 (1.0, 7.0) | 4.0 (1.0, 7.0) | 4.0 (1.0, 7.0) | 1.00 (0.97,1.03) | .97 |
| Thinks they had COVID-19 | 26 (22.4%) | 10 (29.4%) | 36 (24.0%) | 0.92 (0.73,1.15) | .45 |
| Knowingly was exposed to somebody with a positive COVID-19 test result d | 9 (7.9%) | 1 (2.9%) | 10 (6.8%) | 1.22 (0.95,1.57) | .13 |
| Had prior mandatory COVID-19 testing | 56 (48.3%) | 11 (32.4%) | 67 (44.7%) | 1.15 (1.03,1.29) | .01 |
| Partially vaccinated for COVID-19 (vs. non-vaccinated) | 25 (21.7%) | 8 (23.5%) | 33 (22.1%) | 1.00 (0.86,1.15) | .97 |
| Income worse since COVID-19 began | 83 (71.6%) | 21 (61.8%) | 104 (69.3%) | 1.06 (0.90,1.25) | .49 |
| Low/very low food security since COVID-19 began | 76 (65.5%) | 21 (61.8%) | 97 (64.7%) | 1.04 (0.89,1.21) | .66 |
| Most important sources of COVID-19 information | |||||
| Friends e | 56 (53.3%) | 17 (54.8%) | 73 (53.7%) | 0.97 (0.76,1.24) | .80 |
| Doctors/health professionals e | 6 (5.7%) | 2 (6.5%) | 8 (5.9%) | 0.97 (0.66,1.43) | .89 |
| Social media e | 19 (18.1%) | 8 (25.8%) | 27 (19.9%) | 0.98 (0.81,1.17) | .81 |
| COVID-19 misinformation | |||||
| Does NOT think that the virus that causes COVID-19 can be easily spread from one person to another | 27 (23.5%) | 4 (11.8%) | 31 (20.8%) | 1.12 (0.87,1.43) | .39 |
| Does NOT think that many thousands of people have died from COVID-19 | 27 (23.5%) | 6 (17.6%) | 33 (22.1%) | 1.03 (0.83,1.27) | .79 |
| Thinks that most people already have immunity to COVID-19 | 78 (67.8%) | 23 (67.6%) | 101 (67.8%) | 0.98 (0.88,1.10) | .73 |
| Thinks that you can tell someone has COVID-19 by looking at them | 16 (13.9%) | 4 (11.8%) | 20 (13.4%) | 0.96 (0.77,1.20) | .74 |
| Thinks that there are effective treatments for COVID-19 that can cure most people | 87 (75.7%) | 27 (79.4%) | 114 (76.5%) | 0.85 (0.72,1.00) | .05 |
| Thinks that having COVID-19 is about as dangerous as having the flu | 41 (35.7%) | 15 (44.1%) | 56 (37.6%) | 0.93 (0.76,1.14) | .48 |
| COVID-19 disinformation | |||||
| Median # of disinformation items that they believe (out of 6; IQR) | 2.0 (1.0, 4.0) | 3.0 (1.0, 4.0) | 2.0 (1.0, 4.0) | 0.98 (0.93,1.04) | .54 |
Note: All the n (%) represent the affirmative response to the binary variables in each group (i.e., among tested, not tested, and total).
Missing values: an = 4; bn = 12; cn = 13; dn = 2; en = 14.
*Past 6 months; pp-values for the Wald Chi-Square tests from univariate modified Poisson regressions; cp-value to be interpreted with caution due to sparse data (i.e., only two participants reported not speaking English).