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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Jul 27.
Published in final edited form as: Conn Med. 2018 Mar;82(3):133–137.

Table 1. Characteristics of Study Participants.

The number and proportion (for categorical variables) or mean and standard deviation (for continuous variables) for each characteristic is presented for all participants (n = 462) and those who were HCV-negative at baseline (n = 266)

All Participants HCV-Neg Participants

Sociodemographic Characteristics
Women 174 (37.7%) 93 (35.0%)

Age ± s.d. 35.6 ± 11.0 32.5 ± 10.0

Race/Ethnicity African-American 29 (6.8%) 17 (6.4%)
Hispanic 40 (8.6%) 27 (10.1%)
White, non-Hispanic 389 (84.2%) 219 (83.3%)
Other/Bi-racial 4 (0.9%) 3 (1.1%)

Educational achievement Less than high dchool 87 (18.8%) 47 (17.7%)
High dchool 195 (42.2%) 115 ($3.2%)
More than high dchool 180 (40.0%) 104 (39.1%)

Employment status Full-time 61 (13.2%) 39 (14.7%)
Part-time 72 (15.6%) 47 (17.7%)
Unemployed 329 (71.2%) 179 (67.3%)

Monthly income < $500 148 (32.0%) 93 (35.0%)
$500 – $999 99 (21.4%) 51 (19.2%)
$1000 – $1999 133 (28.8%) 72 (27.1%)
≥ $2000 82 (17.8%) 50 (19.5%)

Health insurance None 97 (21.0%) 65 (24.4%)
Private 40 (8.6%) 26 (9.8%)
Government 277 (60.0%) 145 (54.5%)
Missing 48 (10.4%) 30 (11.3%)

Health

Self-reported health status Excellent/very good 154 (33.3%) 93 (35.0%)
Good 174 (37.7%) 110 (41.3%)
Fair/poor 134 (29.0%) 63 (23.7%)

Experiencing chronic pain1 152 (32.9%) 85 (32.0%)

Depression2 None/mild 244 (52.8%) 156 (58.6%)
Moderate/severe 218 (47.2) 110 (41.4%)

Anxiety3 None/mild 345 (74.7%) 203 (76.3%)
Moderate/severe 117 (25.3%) 63 (23.7%)

Experience of opioid overdose 143 (31.0%) 63 (23.7%)

Drug Use and Injection Practices

Drug of choice, past 30 days Heroin 417 (90.3%) 242 (91.0%)
Cocaine 26 (5.6%) 20 (7.5%)

Injection frequency, past 30 days4 50.6 ± 53.6 mode = 30 53.5 ± 55.6 mode = 31

Usual site for acquiring syringes, past 30 days Pharmacy 343 (74.2%) 194 (72.9%)
Syringe exchange program 16 (3.5%) 8 (3.0%)
Other 100 (21.6%) 62 (23.3%)

Shared syringes, past 30 days5 At least once 101 (21.9%) 61 (22.9%)
Never 360 (77.9%) 205 (77.1%)

Any form of unsafe injection, past 30 days At least once 378 (81.8%) 210 (78.8%)
Never 84 (18.2%) 56 (21.1%)

Interactions with Substance Abuse Treatment and Criminal Justice Systems

Any substance abuse treatment, ever 358 (77.5%) 185 (69.8%)

Short-term detoxification Ever 307 (66.4%) 159 (59.8%)
Last 6 months 79 (17.1%) 51 (11.0%)

Longer-term abstinence6 Ever 290 (62.8%) 150 (56.4%)
Last 6 months 70 (15.2%) 54 (20.3%)

Opioid agonist treatment7 Ever 294 (63.6%) 155 (58.3%)
Last 6 months 27 (5.8%) 17 (6.4%)

Ever arrested 415 (89.8%) 230 (86.5%)

Ever jailed or imprisoned8 332 (71.9%) 171 (64.3%)

Ever convicted 284 (61.5%) 140 (52.6%)

Number of times jailed 7.23 ± 9.0 5.9 ± 6.9

NOTES

1.

Chronic pain was measured using the Brief Pain Inventory.14

2.

Depression was measured using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D).15

3.

Anxiety was measured using the Beck Anxiety Index.16

4.

Number of injections per month was capped at 200.

5.

Unsafe injection practices include sharing of syringes, other injection paraphernalia, or drugs once dissolved.

6.

Refers to both in-patient and out-patient abstinence-based programs.

7.

Refers to both methadone and buprenorphine treatment.

8.

Jailed refers to pre-conviction incarceration and imprisoned refers to post-conviction incarceration.