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High prevalence of syringe lending among HIV-positive people who inject drugs in Bangkok, Thailand Voon, Pauline; Hayashi, Kanna; Ti, Lianping; Kaplan, Karyn; Suwannawong, Paisan; Wood, Evan; Kerr, Thomas

Abstract

Background: Syringe sharing continues to be a major driver of the HIV pandemic. In light of efforts to enhance access to sterile syringes and promote secondary prevention among HIV-positive individuals, we sought to identify the prevalence and correlates of used syringe lending among self-reported HIV-positive people who inject drugs (PWID) in Bangkok, Thailand. Findings: We used bivariable statistics to examine factors associated with self-reported syringe lending among self-reported HIV-positive PWID participating in the Mitsampan Community Research Project, a serial cross-sectional study of PWID in Bangkok, between June 2009 and October 2011. In total, 127 individuals were eligible for this analysis, including 25 (19.7 %) women. Twenty-one (16.5 %) participants reported syringe lending in the prior 6 months. Factors significantly associated with syringe lending included daily methamphetamine injection (odds ratio (OR) = 10.2, 95 % CI, 2.1–53.6), daily midazolam injection (OR = 3.1, 95 % CI, 1.1–8.7), use of drugs in combination (OR = 4.5, 95 % CI, 1.0–41.6), injecting with others on a frequent basis (OR = 4.25, 95 % CI, 1.3–18.3), and not receiving antiretroviral therapy (OR = 2.9, 95 % CI, 1.1–7.9). Conclusions: A high prevalence of syringe lending was observed among self-reported HIV-positive PWID in Bangkok, which was associated with high intensity drug use, polysubstance use, and frequently injecting with others. It is particularly concerning that individuals who lent syringes were more likely to be untreated for HIV disease given the known benefits of antiretroviral provision on the prevention of HIV transmission. These findings underscore the need to expand access to sterile syringes and HIV treatment among HIV-positive PWID in Thailand.

Item Metadata

Title
High prevalence of syringe lending among HIV-positive people who inject drugs in Bangkok, Thailand
Creator
Voon, Pauline; Hayashi, Kanna; Ti, Lianping; Kaplan, Karyn; Suwannawong, Paisan; Wood, Evan; Kerr, Thomas
Publisher
BioMed Central
Date Issued
2015-06-02
Description
Background: Syringe sharing continues to be a major driver of the HIV pandemic. In light of efforts to enhance access to sterile syringes and promote secondary prevention among HIV-positive individuals, we sought to identify the prevalence and correlates of used syringe lending among self-reported HIV-positive people who inject drugs (PWID) in Bangkok, Thailand. Findings: We used bivariable statistics to examine factors associated with self-reported syringe lending among self-reported HIV-positive PWID participating in the Mitsampan Community Research Project, a serial cross-sectional study of PWID in Bangkok, between June 2009 and October 2011. In total, 127 individuals were eligible for this analysis, including 25 (19.7 %) women. Twenty-one (16.5 %) participants reported syringe lending in the prior 6 months. Factors significantly associated with syringe lending included daily methamphetamine injection (odds ratio (OR) = 10.2, 95 % CI, 2.1–53.6), daily midazolam injection (OR = 3.1, 95 % CI, 1.1–8.7), use of drugs in combination (OR = 4.5, 95 % CI, 1.0–41.6), injecting with others on a frequent basis (OR = 4.25, 95 % CI, 1.3–18.3), and not receiving antiretroviral therapy (OR = 2.9, 95 % CI, 1.1–7.9). Conclusions: A high prevalence of syringe lending was observed among self-reported HIV-positive PWID in Bangkok, which was associated with high intensity drug use, polysubstance use, and frequently injecting with others. It is particularly concerning that individuals who lent syringes were more likely to be untreated for HIV disease given the known benefits of antiretroviral provision on the prevention of HIV transmission. These findings underscore the need to expand access to sterile syringes and HIV treatment among HIV-positive PWID in Thailand.
Subject
HIV; Injection drug use; People who inject drugs; Syringe lending; Syringe sharing; Bangkok; Thailand; Polysubstance use; Harm reduction; Antiretroviral
Genre
Article
Type
Text
Language
eng
Date Available
2016-01-19
Provider
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
DOI
10.14288/1.0223551
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/2429/56623
Affiliation
Medicine, Department of; Population and Public Health (SPPH), School of; Medicine, Faculty of
Citation
Harm Reduction Journal. 2015 Jun 02;12(1):16
Publisher DOI
10.1186/s12954-015-0050-5
Peer Review Status
Reviewed
Scholarly Level
Faculty
Copyright Holder
Voon et al.
Rights URI
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)