HIV prevalence and risk behaviour in needle exchange attenders - a national study

Objective: To determine whether needle and syringe exchange programs represent feasible sites to describe the prevalence of HIV and related risk behaviour among injecting drug usersDesign: Cross-sectional surveySetting: 21 needle and syringe exchange programs in all Australian jurisdictionsParticipa...

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Main Authors: MacDonald, M., Wodak, A., Ali, R., Crofts, N., Cunningham, P., Dolan, K., Kelaher, M., Loxley, Wendy, Van Beek, I., Kaldor, J.
Format: Journal Article
Published: 1997
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/40314
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author MacDonald, M.
Wodak, A.
Ali, R.
Crofts, N.
Cunningham, P.
Dolan, K.
Kelaher, M.
Loxley, Wendy
Van Beek, I.
Kaldor, J.
author_facet MacDonald, M.
Wodak, A.
Ali, R.
Crofts, N.
Cunningham, P.
Dolan, K.
Kelaher, M.
Loxley, Wendy
Van Beek, I.
Kaldor, J.
author_sort MacDonald, M.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Objective: To determine whether needle and syringe exchange programs represent feasible sites to describe the prevalence of HIV and related risk behaviour among injecting drug usersDesign: Cross-sectional surveySetting: 21 needle and syringe exchange programs in all Australian jurisdictionsParticipants: All persons attendgin the needle and syringe exchange programs over one week in March 1995 were eligible to participate in the study once.Intervention: Needle and syringe exchange attenders were asked to complete a brief, self-administered questionnaire and provide a finger-prick blood sample.Main outcome measures: Prevalence of HIV antibody,drug rejecting and sexual behaviour, and survey costResults: Completed questionnaires with blood samples suitable for testing were provided by 1005 (42%)of 2373 individuals who attended the needle and syringe exchange programs during the survey week. Women were more likely than men to participate in the survey but there was no difference in the response rate by age group. The HIV prevalence was 2.1% and was significantly higher in men who described themselves as homosexual, compared to men who described themselves as heterosexual (22.5% v. 0.7%;P<0.001). Thirty-one per cent of respondents reported using a syringe after someone else in the preceding month.Conclusion: Cross-sectional surveys of needle exchange clients offer a practical method for monitoring risk behaviour and seroprevalence of bloodborne viral infections.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-403142017-01-30T14:41:23Z HIV prevalence and risk behaviour in needle exchange attenders - a national study MacDonald, M. Wodak, A. Ali, R. Crofts, N. Cunningham, P. Dolan, K. Kelaher, M. Loxley, Wendy Van Beek, I. Kaldor, J. Objective: To determine whether needle and syringe exchange programs represent feasible sites to describe the prevalence of HIV and related risk behaviour among injecting drug usersDesign: Cross-sectional surveySetting: 21 needle and syringe exchange programs in all Australian jurisdictionsParticipants: All persons attendgin the needle and syringe exchange programs over one week in March 1995 were eligible to participate in the study once.Intervention: Needle and syringe exchange attenders were asked to complete a brief, self-administered questionnaire and provide a finger-prick blood sample.Main outcome measures: Prevalence of HIV antibody,drug rejecting and sexual behaviour, and survey costResults: Completed questionnaires with blood samples suitable for testing were provided by 1005 (42%)of 2373 individuals who attended the needle and syringe exchange programs during the survey week. Women were more likely than men to participate in the survey but there was no difference in the response rate by age group. The HIV prevalence was 2.1% and was significantly higher in men who described themselves as homosexual, compared to men who described themselves as heterosexual (22.5% v. 0.7%;P<0.001). Thirty-one per cent of respondents reported using a syringe after someone else in the preceding month.Conclusion: Cross-sectional surveys of needle exchange clients offer a practical method for monitoring risk behaviour and seroprevalence of bloodborne viral infections. 1997 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/40314 fulltext
spellingShingle MacDonald, M.
Wodak, A.
Ali, R.
Crofts, N.
Cunningham, P.
Dolan, K.
Kelaher, M.
Loxley, Wendy
Van Beek, I.
Kaldor, J.
HIV prevalence and risk behaviour in needle exchange attenders - a national study
title HIV prevalence and risk behaviour in needle exchange attenders - a national study
title_full HIV prevalence and risk behaviour in needle exchange attenders - a national study
title_fullStr HIV prevalence and risk behaviour in needle exchange attenders - a national study
title_full_unstemmed HIV prevalence and risk behaviour in needle exchange attenders - a national study
title_short HIV prevalence and risk behaviour in needle exchange attenders - a national study
title_sort hiv prevalence and risk behaviour in needle exchange attenders - a national study
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/40314