Table 1.
Study participant characteristics by primary syringe source: New England (NH, VT, MA), 2018–2019 (n = 397)
| Characteristic | Direct SSP (n = 89) | Pharmacy (n = 106) | Indirect SSP (n = 72) | Other Sources (n = 130) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sociodemographics-% | ||||
| Female | 36 | 33 | 44 | 51 |
| Age (years)-median (IQR) | 36 (30–42) | 31 (28–39) | 34 (28–41) | 33 (27–40) |
| Race: White | 92 | 93 | 93 | 92 |
| Sexual orientation: bisexual/homosexual/othera | 17 | 16 | 17 | 19 |
| High school education or higher | 81 | 69 | 74 | 72 |
| Employment: Full/part-time | 34 | 45 | 29 | 30 |
| Experienced homelessness (past 6 months) | 55 | 56 | 57 | 62 |
| Criminal justice involvement-% | ||||
| Incarcerated (past 6 months) | 23 | 31 | 28 | 39 |
| Injection drug use-% | ||||
| Years injecting-median (IQR) | 9 (4–16.5) | 9 (4–14.5) | 8 (5–16) | 10 (5–14) |
| Inject at least daily (past 30 days) | 75 | 66 | 65 | 46 |
| Inject multiple times per sitting (past 30 days) | 81 | 84 | 79 | 73 |
| Inject heroin (past 30 days) | 94 | 94 | 90 | 89 |
| Inject cocaine (past 30 days) | 52 | 55 | 58 | 47 |
| Inject methamphetamine (past 30 days) | 19 | 25 | 39 | 26 |
| Inject speedball or screwball (past 30 days) | 37 | 36 | 43 | 29 |
| Addiction treatment-% | ||||
| Ever received MOUD | 76 | 75 | 75 | 73 |
| Infectious disease-% | ||||
| HCV seropositive | 71 | 69 | 75 | 77 |
| Injection sharing practices-% | ||||
| Borrow used syringes (past 30 days) | 34 | 43 | 50 | 65 |
| Borrow other used injection equipment (past 30 days) | 39 | 59 | 63 | 69 |
| Backloading (past 30 days) | 33 | 43 | 50 | 61 |
SSP = syringe services program; MOUD = medications for opioid use disorder; HCV = hepatitis C virus Antibody positive
Chi-square tests were used for categorical variables, ANOVA was used for continuous variables
aMost PWID in the “bisexual/homosexual/other” category identified as bisexual (88.4%)