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Profile of Hepatitis C & Injection Drug Use in Canada
Appendix
Table 1: Characteristics of Canadian injection drug users in studies of persons in needle exchange programs and/or treatment
Reference |
Site |
Clinical |
Ratio |
Age |
% single |
% < H.S |
% not |
% Native |
Injection drugs |
% sharing |
Other traits |
Millson et |
Toronto |
treatment |
valign="top" width="40"> 2.1:1 |
44% <30 |
38% |
37% |
54% |
-- |
heroin, cocaine |
37% in past month |
-- |
Bardlesy et |
Vancouver |
needle |
1.7:1 |
58% <30 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
34% |
-- |
-- |
-- |
Hewitt & |
Alberta |
treatment |
2.8:1 |
22% <25 |
76% |
-- |
69% |
-- |
cocaine |
-- |
-- |
TDPH, 1991 |
Toronto |
needle |
1.9:1 |
64% <31 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
Coates et |
Toronto |
treatment |
Tor: 1.8:1 |
Mean= |
Tor: 50% |
Mean yrs= |
Tor: 68% |
-- |
Tor: heroin |
approx 3/4 |
Income <10K= |
Poulin et al., |
Cape |
needle |
3.4:1 |
mean= |
-- |
-- |
43% |
-- |
-- |
-- |
54% tested + |
Wolfe & |
Edmonton |
treatment |
2.7:1 |
41% <30 |
-- |
52% |
87% |
-- |
-- |
low2 |
0.5% HIV+ |
Elnitsky & |
Calgary |
needle |
3:1 |
mean=32 |
-- |
57% |
69% |
32% |
91% cocaine |
54% |
29% living off |
SADAC, |
Saskatchewan |
treatment |
1.6:1 |
62% <30 |
-- |
74% |
63% + 30% |
64% |
heroin, talwine, |
-- |
-- |
Bruneau, 1994 |
Montreal |
treatment |
3.7:1 |
mean=32 |
-- |
-- |
88% |
-- |
69% cocaine |
91% |
11.4% HIV+ |
Devillaer & |
Hamilton- |
treatment |
2.9:1 |
mean=29 |
43% |
-- |
72% |
-- |
cocaine |
47% in past |
mean duration |
Poulin et al., |
Quebec City |
needle |
2.6:13 |
mean=29 |
-- |
61% |
-- |
--4 |
mean duration |
43% |
Hepatitis= |
Myers et al., |
Toronto |
needle |
6.1:1 |
mean=28 |
-- |
-- |
77% |
-- |
cocaine 70% |
46% |
81% jailed since |
Archibald et al., 1996 |
Vancouver |
IDUs in |
2.1:1 |
mean=35 |
-- |
-- |
88% on |
33% |
cocaine, heroin, |
46% of those |
2/3 attempted |
Belanger et al., 1996 |
Quebec City |
needle |
2.7:1 |
22% <20 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
cocaine, heroin, |
54% |
sharing related |
Sweet et al., |
Prince |
treatment |
5.6:1 |
22% <25 |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
72% cocaine |
61% |
no HIV+ but not |
Romanowski et al., 1997 |
Alberta |
sexually |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
-- |
IDU among |
Stratton et al., |
semi-rural |
treatment |
5.1:1 |
mean = 30 |
63% |
"44% |
78% not |
-- |
cocaine |
64%--note: |
5% HIV+ |
Strathdee et al., 1997 |
Vancouver |
needle |
1.8:1 |
median = 35 |
-- |
81% |
-- |
27% |
cocaine 64% |
69% |
23% HIV+; |
Bruneau et al., |
Montreal |
needle |
5:1 |
mean = 32 |
-- |
-- |
(Income: |
-- |
cocaine (64%) |
76% (78% if |
10.7% HIV+ |
- Unpublished report cited in McHutchion, 1996.
- 84% report never sharing or always cleaning needles.
- The demographic characteristics apply to persons who attended the needle exchange program for at least 2 months.
- Not reported, but 64% jailed at least once.
- Needle exchange attracts high-risk IDUs, but authors suspect that it may also bring some isolated injection drug users into contact with other IDUs and lead to some needle sharing that might not have otherwise occurred.
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