TABLE 1—
Drug Use and Psychosocial Characteristics of 392 Rural Injection Drug Users, by HCV Status: Social Networks Among Appalachian People (SNAP) Study, 2008–2010
| HCV Positive (n = 215), No. (%) or Median (IQR) | HCV Negative (n = 177), No. (%) or Median (IQR) | P | |
| Demographics | |||
| Male gender | 131 (60.9) | 100 (56.5) | .375 |
| Age, y | 32 (27–38) | 30 (25–37) | .112 |
| White (vs other race/ethnicity) | 206 (95.8) | 162 (91.5) | .078 |
| Education, y | 12 (9–12) | 12 (10.8–12) | .099 |
| Income, $ | 700 (400–1450) | 700 (300–1200) | .339 |
| Employed (vs unemployed/underemployed) | 88 (50.3) | 127 (58.5) | .103 |
| DSM-IV psychiatric disorders | |||
| Major depressive disorder | 62 (28.8) | 48 (27.1) | .706 |
| Generalized anxiety disorder | 65 (30.2) | 48 (27.1) | .498 |
| Posttraumatic stress disorder | 23 (10.7) | 35 (19.8) | .012 |
| Antisocial personality disorder | 65 (30.2) | 70 (39.5) | .053 |
| History of methadone treatment | 31 (14.4) | 15 (8.5) | .069 |
| HIV | 0 | 0 | … |
| HSV-2 | 33 (15.3) | 16 (9.0) | .06 |
| Lifetime risk behaviors | |||
| Injection of prescription opioids | 197 (91.6) | 149 (84.2) | .023 |
| Injection of cocaine | 167 (77.7) | 104 (58.8) | < .001 |
| Injection of heroin | 62 (28.8) | 33 (18.6) | .019 |
| Injection of methamphetamine | 24 (11.2) | 15 (8.5) | .376 |
| Years injecting (continuous) | 7 (3–12) | 4 (1–9) | < .001 |
| Years injecting (categorical) | .001 | ||
| ≥ 1 | 28 (13.0) | 47 (26.5) | |
| 1.1–2 | 21 (9.8) | 20 (11.3) | |
| 2.1–3 | 14 (6.5) | 17 (9.6) | |
| 3.1–5 | 25 (11.6) | 25 (14.1) | |
| ≥ 5 | 127 (59.1) | 68 (38.4) | |
| Tattoo(s) or body piercing | 196 (91.2) | 157 (88.7) | .418 |
| Blood transfusion(s) | 22 (10.2) | 23 (13.0) | .393 |
| No. of sex partners | 20 (10–45) | 15 (8–32) | .036 |
| Lifetime substance use | |||
| Illicit methadone | 206 (95.8) | 174 (98.3) | .154 |
| OxyContin | 213 (99.1) | 170 (96.0) | .047 |
| Hydrocodone | 210 (97.7) | 171 (96.6) | .525 |
| Benzodiazepines | 205 (95.3) | 174 (98.3) | .104 |
| Cocaine | 206 (95.8) | 170 (96.0) | .908 |
| Heroin | 95 (44.2) | 66 (37.3) | .167 |
| Methamphetamine | 97 (45.1) | 84 (47.5) | .644 |
| Alcohol | 214 (99.5) | 176 (99.4) | .89 |
| Marijuana | 208 (96.7) | 174 (98.3) | .329 |
| Current risk behaviors (prior 6 mo) | |||
| Injection drug use | 169 (78.6) | 118 (66.7) | .008 |
| Straw sharing | 169 (78.6) | 150 (84.7) | .12 |
| Syringe sharing | 65 (30.2) | 27 (15.2) | < .001 |
| Cottons/cookers/rinse water sharing | 90 (41.9) | 46 (26.0) | .001 |
| Syringe source | .203 | ||
| Pharmacy | 9 (5.3) | 2 (1.7) | |
| Drug dealer | 33 (19.3) | 18 (15.0) | |
| Friends/family | 65 (38.0) | 60 (5.0) | |
| Diabetic | 58 (33.9) | 37 (3.8) | |
| Other | 6 (3.5) | 3 (2.5) | |
| Drug network characteristics | |||
| Degree centralitya | 0.40 (0.20–0.80) | 0.40 (0.20–0.60) | .071 |
| Eigenvector centralityb | 0.05 (0.001–1.40) | 0.02 (0.000002–0.60) | .012 |
| k-corenessc | 2 (1–2) | 1 (1–2) | .161 |
Note. DSM-IV = Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition; HCV = hepatitis C virus; HSV-2 = herpes simplex-2 virus; IQR = interquartile range.
a
Degree centrality takes into account the number of links to and from a person.
b
Eigenvector centrality extends the notion of degree centrality to take into account second-order connections.
c
k-coreness is a subset of the network in which each node within the k-core is connected to at least k other people.