Factors associated with HIV seroprevalence among participants enrolling at a needle exchange program

The purpose of this study was to identify HIV risk factors associated with participants who were HIV seropositive at Needle Exchange Program (NEP) entry. A sample of injection drug users (IDUs) who enrolled in an NEP between 1994-1997 were recruited into a prospective study and tested for HIV antibodies. Demographic and recent drug use characteristics were collected. Logistic regression models were constructed to identify factors associated with HIV-seropositive status at NEP entry. Of 811 evaluation participants, 87% were African American, 67% were male, and 30% were HIV seropositive. The multivariate model indicated that daily cocaine injection (Adjusted OR (AOR)=1.98), daily speedball injection (AOR=2.36), daily heroin injection (AOR=0.55), cohabitation with someone (AOR=0.7), and employment (AOR=0.4) were all significantly associated with HIV seroprevalence at NEP entry (p<0.05). These findings indicate that HIV-seropositive individuals entering NEP practice particularly risky behaviors and are more likely to need help in order to minimize the harm of drugs and HIV infection than their HIV-seronegative counterparts.