Table 1.
Socio-demographic variables and drug use patterns, in the overall sample and by gender.
| Women 269 (27%) n (%) |
Men 722 (73%) n (%) |
Total 991 n (%) |
p | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (mean; [s.d.]) | 25.00 [3.6] | 25.9 [3.2] | 25.7 [3.3] | < 0.0001 |
| Educational level | 0.008 | |||
| Primary or < | 104 (38.8) | 348 (48.2) | 450 (45.7) | |
| > = Secondary | 164 (61.2) | 370 (51.8) | 530 (54.3) | |
| Living arrangements † | 0.007 | |||
| Flats | 187 (69.5) | 507 (70.2) | 694 (70.0) | |
| Squats | 56 (20.8) | 103 (14.3) | 159 (16.0) | |
| Homeless or institution | 26 (9.7) | 112 (15.5) | 138 (13.9) | |
| Work | ||||
| Did not work † (with/without contract) |
203 (75.5) | 475 (65.8) | 678 (68.4) | 0.004 |
| Ever in prison | 71 (26.4) | 347 (48.1) | 418 (42.2) | < 0.0001 |
| Ever confined to bed † | 143 (54.0) | 272 (38.0) | 415 (42.3) | < 0.0001 |
| Inpatient in a hospital † | 65 (24.5) | 142 (19.8) | 207 (21.1) | 0.107 |
| Infections (n = 971) | ||||
| Ab* HIV + | 61 (22.9) | 116 (16.5) | 177 (18.2) | 0.020 |
| Ab HCV + | 132 (49.6) | 375 (53.3) | 507 (52.3) | 0.311 |
| Ab HBV core + | 41 (15.4) | 124 (17.6) | 165 (17.0) | 0.421 |
| Alcohol use severity‡ | 0.004 | |||
| No alcohol use | 64 (23.9) | 113 (15.8) | 177 (18.0) | |
| Moderate | 95 (35.4) | 317 (44.3) | 412 (41.9) | |
| At risk | 41 (15.3) | 133 (18.6) | 174 (17.7) | |
| Heavy use | 68 (25.4) | 152 (21.3) | 220 (22.4) | |
| N of years drug use (mean; [s.d.]) | ||||
| Cocaine | 8.2 [4.0] | 9.6 [3.9] | 9.2 [4.0] | < 0.0001 |
| Heroin | 7.4 [4.6] | 8.9 [4.3] | 8.5 [4.5] | < 0.0001 |
| Poly-drug use † | 255 (94.8) | 686 (95.0) | 941 (95.0) | 0.889 |
| Ever injecting | 164 (61.0) | 473 (65.5) | 637 (64.3) | 0.184 |
| Age first heroin use (mean; [s.d.]) | 17.6 [3.4] | 17.0 [3.1] | 17.1 [3.2] | 0.001 |
| Age first injecting (mean; [s.d.]) | 19.6 [3.7] | 19.3 [3.9] | 19.4 [3.8] | 0.392 |
| Intravenous use † | 135 (50.6) | 381 (52.9) | 516 (52.3) | 0.511 |
| Drug use treatment | 0.291 | |||
| Never | 84 (31.7) | 213 (29.7) | 297 (30.2) | |
| Before last year | 40 (15.1) | 141 (19.7) | 181 (18.4) | |
| Methadone last year | 108 (40.8) | 262 (36.5) | 370 (37.7) | |
| Other last year | 33 (12.5) | 101 (14.1) | 134 (13.6) | |
| Psychiatric treatment † | 25 (9.3) | 51 (7.1) | 76 (7.7) | 0.241 |
| Opiate Overdoses | ||||
| Ever in lifetime | 71 (26.5) | 173 (24.0) | 244 (24.6) | 0.412 |
| Last 12 months | 22 (8.2) | 58 (8.0) | 80 (8.1) | 0.928 |
| SDS * score (mean; [s.d.]) | ||||
| Cocaine | 5.3 [4.3] | 4.8 [4.1] | 4.9 [4.2] | 0.089 |
| Heroin | 8.2 [3.3] | 8.0 [3.4] | 8.1 [3.4] | 0.497 |
* Ab: antibodies; SDS: Severity Dependence Scale.
† Refers to last 12 months.
‡ different cut-points used for both genders: men: 40-60 g/day; women: 20-40 g/day