Table 3.
Characteristics of OiSIS-Toronto participants by recent frequency of SCS use
| Characteristic | Total | Recent frequency of SCS use (proportion of all injections at SCS)* | p value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n= 701 n (%) | All or most (≥75%) n = 182 n (%) | Some (26-74%) n = 215 n (%) | Few (≤25%) n = 204 n (%) | None n = 94 n (%) | ||
| Age (med, [IQR]) | 39.0 (33.0–49.0) | 39.0 (33.0–48.0) | 36.0 (30.5–44.0) | 42.0 (34.0–51.0) | 47.5 (37.3–52.8) | <0.01 |
| Gender (n=698) | 0.15 | |||||
| Cisgender man | 449 (64.3) | 105 (58.0) | 140 (65.4) | 132 (65.0) | 66 (70.2) | |
| Cisgender woman | 216 (30.9) | 69 (38.1) | 66 (30.8) | 60 (29.6) | 21 (22.3) | |
| Transgender or gender diverse | 33 (4.7) | 7 (3.9) | 8 (3.7) | 11 (5.4) | 7 (7.4) | |
| Sexual orientation (n=695) | 0.42 | |||||
| Sexual minority | 129 (18.6) | 31 (17.2) | 34 (15.8) | 43 (21.3) | 20 (21.5) | |
| Straight or heterosexual | 566 (81.4) | 149 (82.8) | 181 (84.2) | 159 (78.7) | 73 (78.5) | |
| Ethnoracial group (n=700) | 0.91 | |||||
| Indigenous | 235 (33.6) | 59 (32.6) | 70 (32.6) | 71 (34.8) | 33 (35.1) | |
| Racialized, non-Indigenous | 90 (12.9) | 20 (11.0) | 27 (12.6) | 29 (14.2) | 14 (14.9) | |
| White, non-Indigenous | 375 (53.6) | 102 (56.4) | 118 (54.9) | 104 (51.0) | 47 (50.0) | |
| Homeless or unstably housed† (n=650) | 588 (90.5) | 154 (92.2) | 185 (93.0) | 170 (90.4) | 75 (83.3) | 0.06 |
| Recent incarceration† (n=650) | 247 (38.0) | 54 (32.3) | 84 (42.2) | 74 (39.4) | 34 (37.8) | 0.27 |
| Income sources† (n=701) | ||||||
| Paid employment | 116 (16.5) | 24 (13.2) | 36 (16.7) | 36 (17.6) | 18 (19.1) | 0.54 |
| Recycling | 225 (32.1) | 52 (28.6) | 69 (32.1) | 71 (34.8) | 30 (31.9) | 0.63 |
| Panhandling | 243 (34.7) | 66 (36.3) | 87 (40.5) | 67 (32.8) | 21 (22.3) | 0.02 |
| Government benefits | 649 (92.6) | 169 (92.9) | 200 (93.0) | 192 (94.1) | 83 (88.3) | 0.34 |
| Friends and/or family | 341 (48.6) | 82 (45.1) | 120 (55.8) | 105 (51.5) | 31 (33.0) | <0.01 |
| Theft | 344 (49.1) | 94 (51.6) | 115 (53.5) | 101 (49.5) | 32 (34.0) | 0.01 |
| Selling needles | 18 (2.6) | 4 (2.2) | 5 (2.3) | 7 (3.4) | 2 (2.1) | 0.84 |
| Selling drugs | 353 (50.4) | 95 (52.2) | 105 (48.8) | 115 (56.4) | 35 (37.2) | 0.02 |
| Sex work or transactional sex | 120 (17.1) | 36 (19.8) | 42 (19.5) | 27 (13.2) | 13 (13.8) | 0.20 |
| Result of last HIV test (n=690) | <0.01 | |||||
| Never tested or did not receive results | 41 (5.9) | 9 (5.0) | 15 (7.2) | 10 (4.9) | 7 (7.5) | |
| Positive | 35 (5.1) | 6 (3.3) | 4 (1.9) | 12 (5.9) | 12 (12.9) | |
| Negative | 614 (89.0) | 165 (91.7) | 189 (90.9) | 181 (89.2) | 74 (79.6) | |
| Ever diagnosed with Hepatitis C (n=641) | 335 (52.3) | 106 (61.3) | 86 (44.3) | 106 (57.0) | 34 (41.5) | <0.01 |
| Currently Hepatitis C-positive‡ (n=335) | 0.56 | |||||
| Yes | 191 (57.0) | 57 (54.3) | 54 (62.8) | 61 (57.0) | 17 (50.0) | |
| No | 132 (39.4) | 46 (43.8) | 29 (33.7) | 40 (37.4) | 16 (47.1) | |
| Do not know | 12 (3.6) | 2 (1.9) | 3 (3.5) | 6 (5.6) | 1 (2.9) | |
| Drug injected most often (n=693) | <0.01 | |||||
| Fentanyl | 333 (48.1) | 99 (54.7) | 134 (63.2) | 78 (38.6) | 19 (20.7) | |
| Heroin | 58 (8.4) | 16 (8.8) | 10 (4.7) | 21 (10.4) | 11 (12.0) | |
| Prescription opioids (e.g., hydromorphone, morphine) | 56 (8.1) | 15 (8.3) | 11 (5.2) | 25 (12.4) | 4 (4.3) | |
| Crystal methamphetamine | 137 (19.8) | 26 (14.4) | 35 (16.5) | 46 (22.8) | 28 (30.4) | |
| Cocaine or crack/rock cocaine | 86 (12.4) | 15 (8.3) | 17 (8.0) | 26 (12.9) | 28 (30.4) | |
| Other | 23 (3.3) | 10 (5.5) | 5 (2.4) | 6 (3.0) | 2 (2.2) | |
| Number of years injecting (median, IQR) (n=691) | 13.0 (6.0–26.0) | 13.0 (5.0–24.3) | 11.0 (5.0–18.0) | 17.0 (7.0–31.0) | 18.0 (8.0–31.5) | <0.01 |
| Current use of opioid agonist therapy (n=699) | 0.01 | |||||
| No | 472 (67.5) | 107 (58.8) | 142 (66.4) | 147 (72.1) | 72 (77.4) | |
| Yes—methadone | 188 (26.9) | 67 (36.8) | 59 (27.6) | 43 (21.1) | 18 (19.4) | |
| Yes—buprenorphine/naloxone | 34 (4.9) | 6 (3.3) | 13 (6.1) | 11 (5.4) | 3 (3.2) | |
| Yes—other | 5 (0.7) | 2 (0.1) | 0 (0.0) | 3 (1.5) | 0 (0.0) | |
| Total | -- | 182 (26.2) | 215 (30.9) | 204 (29.4) | 94 (13.5) | -- |
*Six participants were missing data on frequency of SCS use in the past 6 months
†In the previous 6 months
‡Among those ever diagnosed
Note: proportions may not sum to 100% because of rounding
IQR interquartile range, SCS supervised consumption site