Egocentric network characteristics of people who inject drugs in the Chicago metro area and associations with hepatitis C virus and injection risk behavior

Mackesy‐Amiti, Mary Ellen; Falk, Joshua; Latkin, Carl A.; Kaufmann, Maggie; Williams, Leslie D.; Boodram, Basmattee

doi:10.1186/s12954-022-00642-4

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…Our study used baseline data from a longitudinal network-based study of young PWID (aged 18– 30) and their network members. Recruitment, enrollment, and data collection methods have been previously described (Mackesy-Amiti et al, 2022). Importantly, multiple recruitment approaches have been utilized to ensure a diverse sample of urban and suburban PWID.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To be eligible for the study, all ego participants had to be current injectors (i.e., at least inject once in the past 30 days) and had to be willing to help recruit their injection network members (alters) for second wave of data collection. See Figure 1 in Mackesy-Amiti et al 2022 for more details of the sampling process. This study was reviewed and approved by the IRB Board at University of Illinois at Chicago (Protocol #2017-0388).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This means the same alter could be listed in more than one network of the ego when, for example, the alter and ego both injected drugs together and provided support. Summary measures were computed for each network using NetworkX version 2.4 (Hagberg et al, 2008) as described in detail in a previous publication (Mackesy-Amiti et al, 2022). These measures quantify each ego’s network structure through network size, closeness and characteristics of network members, which could also be viewed as additional attributes or characteristics for each PWID.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social-spatial network structures among young urban and suburban persons who inject drugs in a large metropolitan area

Lin

Aguilera

Williams

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Background: It is estimated that there are 1.5% US adult population who inject drugs in 2018, with young adults aged 18-39 showing the highest prevalence. PWID are at a high risk of many blood-borne infections. Recent studies have highlight the importance of employing the syndemic approach to study opioid misuse, overdose, HCV and HIV, along with the social and environmental contexts where these interrelated epidemics occur in already marginalized communities. Social interactions and spatial contexts are important structural factors that are understudied. Methods: Egocentric injection network and geographic activity spaces for young (aged 18-30) PWID and their injection, sexual, and social support network members (i.e., where reside, inject drugs, purchase drugs, and meet sex partners) were examined using baseline data from an ongoing longitudinal study (n=258). Participants were stratified based on the location of all place(s) of residence in the past year i.e., urban, suburban, and transient (both urban and suburban) to i) elucidate geospatial concentration of risk activities within multi-dimensional risk environments based on kernel density estimates; and ii) examine spatialized social networks for each residential group. Results: Participants were mostly non-Hispanic white (59%); 42% were urban residents, 28% suburban, and 30% transient. We identified a spatial area with concentrated risky activities for each residence group on the West side of Chicago where a large outdoor drug market area is located. The urban group (80%) reported a smaller concentrated area (14 census tracts) compared to the transient (93%) and suburban (91%) with 30 and 51 tracts, respectively. Compared to other areas in Chicago, the identified area had significantly higher neighborhood disadvantages (e.g., higher poverty rate, p<0.001). Significant (p<0.01 for all) differences were observed in social network structures: suburban had the most homogenous network in terms of age and residence, transient participants had the largest network (degree) and more non-redundant connections. Conclusion: We identified concentrated risk activity spaces among PWID from urban, suburban, and transient groups in a large outdoor urban drug market area, which highlights the need for considering the role of risk spaces and social networks in addressing the syndemics in PWID populations.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social-spatial network structures among young urban and suburban persons who inject drugs in a large metropolitan area

Lin

Aguilera

Williams

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…The data for this study come from baseline interviews conducted from October 2018 to February 2021 for an on-going longitudinal network-based study of young adult (aged 18-30) PWID participants (egos) and their injection, sexual, and support network members (alters) (24).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Injection partnership characteristics and HCV status associations with syringe and equipment sharing among people who inject drugs

Mackesy‐Amiti

Boodram

Page³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Background. Sharing of syringes is the leading transmission pathway for hepatitis C (HCV) infections. The extent to which HCV can spread among people who inject drugs (PWID) is largely dependent on syringe-sharing network factors. Our study aims to better understand partnership characteristics and syringe and equipment sharing with those partners, including measures of relationship closeness, sexual activity, and social support, as well as self and partner HCV status to better inform interventions for young urban and suburban PWID. Methods. Baseline interviews from a longitudinal network-based study of young (aged 18-30) PWID participants (egos) and their injection, sexual, and support network members (alters) (n=276 egos and 929 injection alters) in metropolitan Chicago. All participants completed a baseline computer-assisted interviewer-administered questionnaire and an egocentric network survey. Results. Correlates of syringe and ancillary equipment sharing were found to be similar. Sharing was more likely to occur in mixed-gender dyads. Participants were more likely to share syringes and equipment with alters who lived in the same household, who they saw every day, who they trusted, who they had an intimate relationship with that included condomless sex, and who provided emotional or informational support. PWID who had tested HCV negative within the past year were less likely to share syringes with an HCV positive partner compared to those who did not know their status. Conclusion. PWID regulate their syringe and other injection equipment sharing to some extent by sharing preferentially with injection partners with whom they have a close personal or intimate relationship, and whose HCV status they are more likely to know. Our findings underscore the need for risk interventions and HCV treatment strategies to consider the social context of syringe and equipment sharing within partnerships.

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“…Egos and enrolled alters were followed every 6 months for up to 36 months to collect sociodemographic, network, geographic, and biologic (HIV/HCV testing) data. A more detailed description of the methods for the parent study is outlined in (22). Participants (egos and alters) completing baseline or follow-up for the parent study were additionally asked to complete a survey on COVID-19 specific questions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of access to harm reduction services during the COVID-19 pandemic among people who inject drugs in Chicago

Kristensen,

Boodram,

Avila

et al. 2023

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BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic amplified the risk environment for people who inject drugs (PWID), making continued access to harm reduction services imperative. Research has shown that some harm reduction service providers were able to continue to provide services throughout the pandemic. Most of these studies, however, focused on staff perspectives, not those of PWID. Our study examines changes in perceptions of access to harm reduction services among PWID participating in a longitudinal study conducted through the University of Illinois-Chicago’s Community Outreach Intervention Project field sites during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsResponses to a COVID-19 module added to the parent study survey that assessed the impact of COVID-19 on PWID participating in an ongoing longitudinal study were analyzed to understand how study participants’ self-reported access to harm reduction services changed throughout the pandemic. Mixed effects logistic regression was used to examine difficulty in syringe access as an outcome of COVID-19 phase.ResultsMost participants reported that access to syringes and naloxone remained the same as prior to the pandemic. Participants had significantly higher odds of reporting difficulty in accessing syringes earlier in the pandemic.ConclusionsThe lack of perceived changes in harm reduction access by PWID and the decrease in those reporting difficulty accessing syringes as the pandemic progressed suggests the efficacy of adaptations to harm reduction service provision (e.g., window and mobile service) during the pandemic. Further research is needed to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic may have impacted PWIDs’ engagement with harm reduction services.

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Egocentric network characteristics of people who inject drugs in the Chicago metro area and associations with hepatitis C virus and injection risk behavior

Cited by 7 publications

References 65 publications

Social-spatial network structures among young urban and suburban persons who inject drugs in a large metropolitan area

Social-spatial network structures among young urban and suburban persons who inject drugs in a large metropolitan area

Injection partnership characteristics and HCV status associations with syringe and equipment sharing among people who inject drugs

Perceptions of access to harm reduction services during the COVID-19 pandemic among people who inject drugs in Chicago

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