Drug network identification predicts injecting risk behavior among people who inject drugs on hepatitis C virus treatment in Tayside, Scotland

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive characteristics of study participants (n = 50).

Parameter	Outcome
Gender – n (%)
Male	38 (76%)
Female	12 (24%)
Age – mean (SD)	37.40 (6.88)
Weekly injecting frequency – mean (SD)	7.10 (9.13)
HCV genotype – n (%)
1	20 (40%)
3	30 (60%)
Intimate partner – n (%)
Yes	19 (38%)
If yes, partner injects – n (%)
Yes	10 (52.6%)
If yes, partner treated for HCV – n (%)
Yes	6 (31.6%)
Substances injected – n (%)
Opioids	45 (90%)
Opioids and cocaine	5 (10%)

Abbreviations: HCV, hepatitis c virus; SD, standard deviation.

Figure 1. Study participant flow chart.

Note: Dotted box was study data collection point.

Table 2. Average questionnaire scores at treatment initiation (n = 50).

Questionnaire	Range (low-high)	Mean (SD)
Injecting risk behavior (overall)	1–4	1.22 (0.59)
Syringes	…	1.09 (0.17)
Spoons	…	1.42 (0.83)
Filters	…	1.47 (0.89)
Water	…	3.37 (1.13)
Identification with family	1–7	4.3 (2.35)
Identification with drug network	1–7	3.9 (2.42)
Depression	0–27	17.36 (7.86)
Anxiety	0–21	14.32 (6.39)
PTSD	1–5	3.22 (1.69)
Illness perception	8–80	31.44 (13.49)

Abbreviations: SD, standard deviation; PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder.

Table 3. Spearman’s correlation analysis for continuous variables (n = 50).

		Age	Injecting frequency	ID (family)	ID (drug network)	Depression	Anxiety	PTSD	Illness Perception
Injecting risk	ρ (rho)	−.11	.57**	−.31*	.46**	.11	.22	.23	.13
	p	.458	.000	.030	.001	.452	.121	.112	.377
Age	ρ (rho)	…	−.13	−.03	−.17	−.28	−.24	−.15	−.03
	p	…	.370	.865	.240	.053	.100	.299	.851
Injecting frequency	ρ (rho)	…	…	−.09	.34*	−.10	.05	.05	−.24
	p	…	…	.539	.014	.473	.712	.726	.089
ID (family)	ρ (rho)	…	…	…	.01	−.25	−.29*	−.24	.00
	p	…	…	…	.954	.084	.043	.091	.986
ID (drug network)	ρ (rho)	…	…	…	…	−.12	−.16	−.21	.06
	p	…	…	…	…	.408	.282	.136	.701
Depression	ρ (rho)	…	…	…	…	…	.82**	.69**	.48**
	p	…	…	…	…	…	.000	.000	.000
Anxiety	ρ (rho)	…	…	…	…	…	…	.67**	.39**
	p	…	…	…	…	…	…	.000	.005
PTSD	ρ (rho)	…	…	…	…	…	…	…	.39**
	p	…	…	…	…	…	…	…	.005
Illness Perception	ρ (rho)	…	…	…	…	…	…	…	…
	p	…	…	…	…	…	…	…	…

Abbreviations: ID, Identification; PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder.

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Table 4. Multiple linear regression coefficients for original and bootstrap samples.

	Original sample*				Bootstrap sample^†
Parameter	B	SE	95% CI	P	B	SE	95% CI	p
Injecting frequency	0.01	0.01	0.01–0.03	.035	0.01	0.01	0.00–0.04	.117
ID with family	−0.03	0.02	−0.08–0.02	.196	−0.03	0.02	−0.07–0.02	.204
ID with drug network	0.05	0.02	0.01–0.10	.027	0.05	0.02	0.01–0.10	.033
Constant	1.05	0.14	0.77–1.33	<.001	1.05	0.12	0.78–1.29	.001

Abbreviations: SE, standard error; CI, confidence interval; ID, identification.

* n = 50.

^† n = 1,000.

Data availability

The anonymized data will be held by the research team. Sharing of data will be considered for researchers who provide a methodologically sound proposal.