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Housing Status and Associated Differences in HIV Risk Behaviors Among Young Injection Drug Users (IDUs)

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Abstract

Using cross-sectional analysis we examined residential status and associated differences in HIV risk behaviors among 3266 young IDUs enrolled in an HIV prevention trial. A three-level outcome (homeless (37%), equivocally housed (17%), housed (46%)) was defined based on responses to two questions assessing subjective and objective criteria for homelessness: “equivocally housed” participants were discordant on these measures. In multivariate analysis, antecedents of homelessness were having lived in an out-of-home placement, been thrown out of the home or in juvenile detention, and experienced childhood abuse; while correlates included receiving income from other and illegal sources, drinking alcohol or using methamphetamine at least daily, using shooting galleries, backloading, and sex work. A subset of these variables was associated with being equivocally housed. HIV risk varies by housing status, with homeless IDUs at highest risk. Programs for IDUs should utilize a more specific definition of residential status to target IDUs needing intervention.

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Acknowledgements

The DUIT Study Group includes the following people: Steffanie Strathdee, Elizabeth Golub, Marie Bailey-Kloch, Karen Yen-Hobelman (Baltimore); Lawrence Ouellet, Susan Bailey, Joyce Fitzgerald (Chicago); Sharon Hudson, Peter Kerndt, Karla Wagner (Los Angeles); Mary Latka, David Vlahov, Farzana Kapadia (New York); Holly Hagan, Hanne Thiede, Nadine Snyder (Seattle); Richard Garfein, David Purcell, Paige Ingram, Andrea Swartzendruber (CDC). The authors also acknowledge the following people for their contributions to this research: Yvette Bowser, Peter O’Driscoll, Janet Reeves, Marcella Sapun (Baltimore); Angus Atkins-Trimnell, Mary Bonilla, David Cosey, Jaime Delgado, Julio Garcia, Michelle Giles, Erin Kubalanza, Michael Phillips, Edward Snulligan (Chicago); Marrisa Axelrod, Elizabeth Faber, Lawrence Fernandez Jr., Christian Geannette, Roberto Rojas (Los Angeles); Ebele Benjamin, Sebastian Bonner, Micaela Coady, Joanna Cruz, Sandra DelVecchio, Dirk Jackson, Gregory Malave, Joan Monserrate, Danielle Ompad, Clarisse Miller O’Shea, Yingfeng Wu, Manny Yonko (New York); Jennifer V. Campbell, Stanley Brown, Rong Lee, Susan Nelson, Jef St. De Lore, Carrie Shriver, Jeanette Frazier, Jean Pass, Paul Swenson (Seattle); Yuko Mizuno, Janet Moore, Ann O’Leary, Vincent Raimondi, Scott Santibanez, RobertoValverde (CDC); IanWilliams,Wendi Kuhnert, Himal Dhotre, Leigh Farrington, (CDC Division of Viral Hepatitis); Suzette Bartley, Dollene Hemmerlein (CDC Serum Bank Branch). This study was funded in its entirety by a cooperative agreement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. U64/CCU317662; U64/CCU517656; U64/CCU917655; U64 CCU217659; U64/CCU071615.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Urban Epidemiologic Studies, New York Academy of Medicine, 1216 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 10029, USA

    Micaela H. Coady, Mary H. Latka & Farzana Kapadia

  2. Aurum Institute for Health Research, 47 Main St. Marshalltown, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

    Mary H. Latka

  3. HIV/AIDS Epidemiology, Public Health-Seattle & King County, 106 Prefontaine Place South, Seattle, WA, 98104, USA

    Hanne Thiede

  4. Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Elizabeth T. Golub

  5. Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Illinois, Chicago, 1603 W. Taylor, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA

    Larry Ouellet

  6. Health Research Association, 1111 N. Las Palmas Ave., Los Angeles, CA, 90038, USA

    Sharon M. Hudson

  7. Guttmacher Institute, 120 Wall Street, 21st Fl, New York, NY, 10005, USA

    Farzana Kapadia

  8. Division of International Health and Cross Cultural Medicine, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, 9500 Gilman Drive, Mailstop 0622, San Diego, CA, 92093, USA

    Richard S. Garfein

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  1. Micaela H. Coady
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  2. Mary H. Latka
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  4. Elizabeth T. Golub
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Correspondence to Micaela H. Coady.

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Coady, M.H., Latka, M.H., Thiede, H. et al. Housing Status and Associated Differences in HIV Risk Behaviors Among Young Injection Drug Users (IDUs). AIDS Behav 11, 854–863 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-007-9248-1

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