TABLE 2—
Factors Associated With HCV Seroconversion Among Persons Who Inject Drugs: Vancouver, Canada, 1996–2013
| Characteristic | HCV Seroconversion,a n = 142, 32.3%, IQR or No. (%) | HCV Nonseroconversion, n = 298, 67.7%, IQR or No. (%) | Unadjusted RR (95% CI) | Adjusted RRb (95% CI) |
| Uses BZDc | 3.44 (2.20, 5.37) | 1.67 (1.05, 2.66) | ||
| Yes | 67 (47.2) | 91 (30.5) | ||
| No | 75 (52.8) | 207 (69.5) | ||
| Median age, by 10-y increments | 27.0 (21.5–36.8) | 30.9 (23.4–41.2) | 0.62 (0.52, 0.74) | 0.87 (0.73, 1.03) |
| Gender | 0.69 (0.49, 0.96) | |||
| Male | 87 (61.3) | 213 (71.5) | ||
| Female | 55 (38.7) | 85 (28.5) | ||
| Race/ethnicity | 1.01 (0.73, 1.41) | |||
| White | 81 (57.0) | 172 (57.7) | ||
| Non-White | 61 (43.0) | 126 (42.3) | ||
| Homelessc | 1.67 (1.17, 2.38) | |||
| Yes | 73 (51.4) | 177 (59.4) | ||
| No | 69 (48.6) | 121 (40.6) | ||
| Engages in methadone maintenancec | 0.97 (0.67, 1.42) | |||
| Yes | 43 (30.3) | 109 (36.6) | ||
| No | 99 (69.7) | 189 (63.4) | ||
| Injects heroin dailyc | 3.50 (2.51, 4.87) | 1.93 (1.34, 2.79) | ||
| Yes | 93 (65.5) | 152 (51.0) | ||
| No | 49 (34.5) | 146 (49.0) | ||
| Injects cocaine dailyc | 3.97 (2.72, 5.80) | 2.27 (1.52, 3.37) | ||
| Yes | 64 (45.1) | 86 (28.9) | ||
| No | 78 (54.9) | 212 (71.1) | ||
| Uses noninjection crack dailyc | 1.07 (0.73, 1.57) | |||
| Yes | 60 (42.3) | 153 (51.3) | ||
| No | 82 (57.7) | 145 (48.7) | ||
| Engages in unsafe sexc | 1.61 (1.14, 2.28) | |||
| Yes | 96 (67.6) | 188 (63.1) | ||
| No | 46 (32.4) | 110 (36.9) | ||
| Involved in sex workc | 3.41 (2.33, 5.00) | |||
| Yes | 51 (35.9) | 80 (26.8) | ||
| No | 91 (64.1) | 218 (73.2) | ||
| Study cohort | 0.42 (0.23, 0.78) | |||
| ACCESS | 131 (92.3) | 224 (75.2) | ||
| VIDUS | 11 (7.7) | 74 (24.8) |
Note. ACCESS = AIDS Care Cohort to Evaluate Access to Survival Services; BZD = benzodiazepine; CI = confidence interval; IQR = interquartile range; RR = rate ratio; VIDUS = Vancouver Injection Drug Users Study. The sample size was n = 440.
a
Number of individuals ever reporting each characteristic during follow-up.
b
A confounder selection approach was used to select values.
c
Activities or situations occurring in the past 6 months.