Table 3.
Factors Associated with Mobile Phone and Internet Use among People who Inject Drugs (PWID) in Fresno, California (N=494).
| Total (N=494) | Phone (n=380) | No Phone (n=114) | p a | Internet (n=397) | No Internet (n=96) | p a | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| |||||||
| n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | |||
| Median age (IQR) | 46 (33–54) | 46 (32–53) | 49 (36–56) | 0.059 | 42 (30–51) | 56 (51–59) | <0.001 |
| Gender | |||||||
| Male | 299 (61) | 228 (60) | 71 (62) | 0.450 | 234 (59) | 64 (67) | 0.153 |
| Female | 190 (38) | 147 (39) | 43 (38) | 160 (40) | 30 (31) | ||
| Transgender | 5 (1) | 5 (1) | 0 (0) | 3 (1) | 2 (2) | ||
| Race/ethnicity | |||||||
| White | 211 (43) | 164 (43) | 47 (41) | 0.129 | 194 (49) | 17 (18) | <0.001 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 167 (34) | 128 (34) | 39 (34) | 109 (27) | 58 (60) | ||
| American Indian/Alaskan Native | 27 (5) | 21 (6) | 6 (5) | 22 (6) | 5 (5) | ||
| Black/African American | 26 (5) | 25 (7) | 1 (1) | 22 (6) | 4 (4) | ||
| Multiracial | 30 (6) | 20 (5) | 10 (9) | 22 (6) | 8 (8) | ||
| Other | 33 (7) | 22 (6) | 11 (10) | 28 (7) | 4 (4) | ||
| Marital status | |||||||
| Married or in a steady relationship | 247 (50) | 193 (51) | 54 (47) | 0.352 | 210 (53) | 37 (39) | 0.008 |
| Single | 187 (38) | 146 (38) | 41 (36) | 147 (37) | 40 (42) | ||
| Divorced, separated, or widowed | 47 (10) | 33 (9) | 14 (12) | 33 (8) | 13 (14) | ||
| Average weekly income >$250 | 214 (43) | 168 (44) | 46 (40) | 0.571 | 181 (46) | 33 (34) | 0.046 |
| Homelessb | 152 (31) | 89 (23) | 63 (55) | <0.001 | 110 (28) | 41 (43) | 0.008 |
| Ever been enrolled in drug treatment | 376 (76) | 296 (78) | 80 (70) | 0.116 | 304 (77) | 71 (74) | 0.685 |
| Median years injecting (IQR) | 22 (7–35) | 21 (7–34) | 25 (9–38) | 0.061 | 17 (5–32) | 37.5 (26.75–42) | <0.001 |
| Median times injected in past month (IQR) | 40 (18–90) | 40 (15–90) | 60 (20–90) | 0.815 | 42 (18–90) | 40 (20–71.25) | 0.129 |
| Median hours spent on the street each day (IQR)b | 10 (4–19.5) | 8 (3–15.75) | 16 (9–24) | <0.001 | 8 (4–18) | 10 (5.75–24) | 0.168 |
| Injection drug useb | |||||||
| Heroin by itself | 407 (82) | 310 (82) | 97 (85) | 0.470 | 318 (80) | 88 (92) | 0.012 |
| Methamphetamine by itself | 280 (57) | 208 (55) | 72 (63) | 0.138 | 246 (62) | 34 (35) | <0.001 |
| Heroin and methamphetamine together | 196 (40) | 137 (36) | 59 (52) | 0.004 | 169 (43) | 27 (28) | 0.013 |
| Heroin and powder or crack cocaine together | 100 (20) | 69 (18) | 31 (27) | 0.049 | 78 (20) | 22 (23) | 0.566 |
| Powder and/or crack cocaine by itself | 78 (16) | 56 (15) | 22 (19) | 0.305 | 63 (16) | 15 (16) | 1.000 |
| Syringe sharing (receptive and/or distributive)b | 194 (39) | 127 (33) | 67 (59) | <0.001 | 147 (37) | 46 (48) | 0.065 |
| Syringe reuseb | 398 (81) | 290 (76) | 108 (95) | <0.001 | 315 (79) | 82 (85) | 0.228 |
IQR=interquartile range;
a
Independent-samples t-tests for continuous variables and chi-square tests for categorical variables;
b
Past 3 months.