Cocaine Use and HIV Risk Behaviour Among Drug Injectors

Abstract

503 injecting drug users were interviewed in Glasgow during 1990 about their use of cocaine. 17% (N=85) and 14% (N=68) reported using and injecting cocaine respectively, in the six months prior to interview. 34 variables were entered into a stepwise discriminant analysis to predict group membership (cocaine users vs non-cocaine users). Cocaine users were found to have a markedly different profile from non-cocaine users, with the discriminant function containing 15 variables correctly classifying 82% of respondents. The stereotype of cocaine users as being affluent is challenged; injectors who used cocaine were predominantly unemployed and poorly educated. Higher levels of some HIV related risk behaviours, support recent warnings from the United States that cocaine use may be a marker for susceptibility to HIV infection because of its association with other traits and highlight the need for continued monitoring of cocaine use in the United Kingdom.

Key Words:

• cocaine
• injecting
• affluence
• HIV infection
• Glasgow