Table 1. Demographic characteristics and lifetime risk behavior of prisoners in New South Wales, Australia, 2005–2012*.
| Characteristic | Infected prisoners/ study cohort, n = 79† | Noninfected prisoners, n = 317 | p value‡ | Infected prisoners excluded, n = 102§ | p value¶ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean (± SD) age, y | 28 (7.2) | 28 (7.0) | 0.71 | 26 (6.5) | 0.13 |
| Median (± SD) time since initiation of injecting, y | 6.5 (6.3) | 7 (6.3) | 0.81 | 7 (6.1) | 0.60 |
| Male sex | 49 (62) | 216 (68) | 0.41 | 60 (59) | 0.78 |
| Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander | 18 (23) | 58 (18) | 0.44 | 37 (36) | 0.07 |
| >10 y of education | 61 (77) | 238 (75) | 0.73 | 84 (82) | 0.50 |
| Previously imprisoned | 69 (87) | 215 (68) | 0.001 | 77 (75) | 0.07 |
| Ever had a tattoo | 58 (73) | 228 (72) | 0.84 | 74 (73) | 1 |
| Ever injected drugs in prison | 26 (33) | 67 (21) | 0.04 | 42 (41) | 0.33 |
| Ever shared injecting equipment in prison | 23 (29) | 61 (19) | 0.06 | 37 (36) | 0.43 |
*Data are expressed as no. (%) unless otherwise indicated. HITS-p, Hepatitis C Incidence and Transmission Study in Prisons. †Study cohort = viremic participants from the HITS-p cohort. ‡2-sided comparison of participants from the study cohort and noninfected participants from the HITS-p cohort. §102 prisoners were excluded because they were infected with an HCV genotype other than 1 or 3. ¶2-sided comparison of participants from the study cohort and infected participants excluded from the study.