Estimating the number of persons who inject drugs in the united states by meta-analysis to calculate national rates of HIV and hepatitis C virus infections.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Injection drug use provides an efficient mechanism for transmitting bloodborne viruses, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). Effective targeting of resources for prevention of HIV and HCV infection among persons who inject drugs (PWID) is based on knowledge of the population size and disparity in disease burden among PWID. This study estimated the number of PWID in the United States to calculate rates of HIV and HCV infection.

Methods

We conducted meta-analysis using data from 4 national probability surveys that measured lifetime (3 surveys) or past-year (3 surveys) injection drug use to estimate the proportion of the United States population that has injected drugs. We then applied these proportions to census data to produce p

SUBMITTER: Lansky A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4026524 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature