Table 4.
Proportions of reported drug equipment-sharing partnerships within and without respondents’ own age, gender and racial group among PWID in three US cities as reported by Williams et al. and in Baltimore as reported by STEP study respondents
| Williams et al.’s study of three US cities (1995)a | STEP study (2005)b | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dayton/Columbus, OH (%) | Houston, TX (%) | Rio Piedras, PR (%) | Baltimore, MD (%) | |
| Same age groupc | 20.0 | 25.0 | 32.0 | 50.1 |
| Mixed age group | 80.0 | 75.0 | 68.0 | 49.9 |
| Single gender | 22.0 | 33.0 | 47.0 | 60.3 |
| Mixed gender | 78.0 | 67.0 | 53.0 | 39.7 |
| Same racial groupd | 78.0 | 76.0 | 98.0 | 96.4 |
| Mixed racial group | 22.0 | 24.0 | 2.0 | 3.6 |
Sharing network members were defined as those with whom the respondent had shared needles or cookers in the past 30 days. A total of 275 dyads were reported by 192 respondents in a single cross-sectional survey. Information on participant recruitment methods or survey year was not provided, but study was published in 1995.
Sharing network members were defined as those with whom the respondent had shared needles and/or cookers in the past 6 months. A total of 2651 dyads were reported by 647 respondents over the course of four biannual surveys from 2005 to 2006.
Age groups were divided into 10-year age categories, with the youngest group being those 30 or under, and the oldest those over 50.
Racial groups in Williams et al. were categorised as African American, white and Hispanic.