Table 1.
Characteristics and behaviours of people participating in the UAM Survey of PWID: England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 2020 vs 2019.
| Characteristics | Participants in the 2020 UAM Survey completing the COVID questionnaire |
All participants in the 2019 UAM Survey |
P-valuea | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | % | 95% CI | n | % | 95% CI | |||
| Total | 288 | 3258 | - | |||||
| Gender | Men | 223 | 78% | 72–82% | 2302 | 71% | 69–72% | 0.015 |
| Women | 64 | 22% | 18–28% | 944 | 29% | 28–31% | ||
| Median age (years) [IQR] | 41 [34–48] | 41 [35–47] | 0.789 | |||||
| Region of birth | United Kingdom | 262 | 92% | 88–95% | 2903 | 92% | 91–93% | 0.916 |
| Abroad | 23 | 8.1% | 5.2–12% | 261 | 8.2% | 7.3–9.3% | ||
| Region of recruitment | London | 51 | 18% | 13–23% | 456 | 14% | 13–15% | 0.085 |
| Outside London | 237 | 82% | 77–87% | 2802 | 86% | 85–87% | ||
| Ever exchanged goods or money for sex | Never | 222 | 80% | 75–85% | 2625 | 86% | 84–87% | 0.058 |
| Yes, but not in the last year | 31 | 11% | 7.8–16% | 257 | 8.4% | 7.4–9.4% | ||
| Yes, in the last year | 23 | 8.3% | 5.4–12% | 180 | 5.9% | 5.1–6.8% | ||
| Ever homeless | No | 48 | 17% | 13–22% | 779 | 25% | 23–26% | <0.001 |
| Yes, but not in the last year | 62 | 22% | 17–27% | 1039 | 33% | 31–35% | ||
| Yes, in the last year | 170 | 61% | 55–66% | 1338 | 42% | 41–44% | ||
| Recent initiates to injecting drug useb | 13 | 4.7% | 2.6–8.0% | 270 | 8.6% | 7.7–9.7% | 0.026 | |
| Injected in the last year | 170 | 62% | 56–68% | 2035 | 65% | 63–67% | 0.359 | |
| Injected in the last month | 133 | 52% | 45–58% | 1492 | 47% | 45–49% | 0.207 | |
| Drugs injected in the last month | Heroin | 119 | 92% | 85–96% | 1352 | 93% | 91–94% | 0.579 |
| Crack | 64 | 49% | 40–58% | 837 | 57% | 55–60% | 0.069 | |
| Cocaine | 33 | 25% | 18–34% | 242 | 17% | 15–19% | 0.011 | |
| Amphetamine | 22 | 17% | 11–24% | 157 | 11% | 9.2–12% | 0.034 | |
| Other | 1 | 0.76% | 0–4.2% | 61 | 4.2% | 3.2–5.3% | 0.017 | |
| Non-injecting drug use in the last month | Heroin | 107 | 38% | 32–44% | 1330 | 42% | 40–44% | 0.203 |
| Crack | 137 | 49% | 43–55% | 1569 | 50% | 48–51% | 0.805 | |
| Cocaine | 83 | 30% | 24–35% | 648 | 21% | 19–22% | <0.001 | |
| Amphetamine | 40 | 14% | 10–19% | 221 | 7.0% | 6.1–7.9% | <0.001 | |
| Methamphetamine | 10 | 3.6% | 1.7–6.5% | 42 | 1.3% | 0.96–1.8% | 0.003 | |
| Pregabalin | 78 | 28% | 23–34% | 600 | 19% | 18–20% | <0.001 | |
| Other | 94 | 33% | 28–39% | 1258 | 40% | 38–42% | 0.035 | |
| Direct sharing of needles/syringesc | 36 | 28% | 20–36% | 294 | 20% | 18–23% | 0.051 | |
| Direct and indirect sharing of injecting equipmentd | 60 | 46% | 37–55% | 532 | 37% | 34–39% | 0.038 | |
Data source: Unlinked Anonymous Monitoring Survey of People Who Inject Drugs.
CI = confidence interval; COVID = coronavirus disease; IQR = interquartile range; PWID = people who inject drugs; UAM = Unlinked Anonymous Monitoring.
a
Chi-squared test.
b
People who reported to have begun injecting in the last three years.
c
Sharing of needles/syringes among those who had last injected in the four weeks preceding participation in the survey.
d
Sharing of needles/syringes, mixing containers or filters among those who had last injected in the four weeks preceding survey participation.