Factors Associated with Recent-Onset Injection Drug Use among Drug Users in Pakistan |
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| Authors: | Irene Kuo Salman Ul-Hasan Tariq Zafar Noya Galai Susan G Sherman Steffanie A Strathdee |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, Washington, District of Columbia, USA;2. Nai Zindagi, Beverly Center, Islamabad, Pakistan;3. Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA;4. Division of International Health and Cross Cultural Medicine, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA |
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| Abstract: | Seventy-two recent-onset injection drug users and 241 non-injection drug users were recruited in Quetta and Lahore, Pakistan, in 2003. Trained interviewers administered questionnaires regarding drug use behaviors and perceived changes in drug cost/supply. Logistic regression identified independent correlates of recent-onset injection. In Lahore, a perceived increase in drug cost was associated with higher odds of recent-onset injection, with no association in Quetta. Recent-onset injection was also associated with family history of drug use, group drug use, and sharing snorting/chasing tools. Changes in perception of the drug supply may be associated with recent-onset injection drug use. Familial/social influences were also associated with recent-onset injection, suggesting peer-led interventions could discourage transition to injection drug use. |
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| Keywords: | “chasing the dragon” drop-in-centers drug cost drug supply group drug use harm reduction heroin injection drug use injection initiation Pakistan snorting trafficking routes transit route |
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