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Drug Network Characteristics and HIV Risk Among Injection Drug Users in Russia: The roles of Trust, Size, and Stability

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Abstract

We investigated the influence of drug network characteristics including trust, size, and stability on HIV risk behaviors and HIV testing among injection drug users (IDUs) in St. Petersburg, Russia. Overall, male and female IDUs who reported having high levels of trust in their drug networks were significantly more likely to share syringes than those with lower levels of trust (OR [95% CI]) 2.87 [1.06, 7.81] and 4.89 [1.05, 21.94], respectively). Male and female IDUs in larger drug networks were more likely to share syringes than those in smaller networks (4.21 [1.54, 11.51] and 4.80 [1.20, 19.94], respectively). Characteristics that were significantly associated with not having been HIV tested included drug network instability among men and larger network size among women. High trust, large size, and instability were positively and significantly associated with syringe sharing and not having been HIV tested. Effectiveness of interventions in Russia to reduce the risk of HIV infection may be enhanced if network characteristics are addressed.

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Acknowledgments

The work was supported by the Downs Fellowship and Committee on International Health at Yale University, an AIDS International Training and Research Program grant from the NIH Fogarty International Center (5D43TW001028), and by a grant from the Civilian Research and Development Foundation to NGO Stellit and Yale University School of Public Health (RUB- 7001-ST-08). The authors are tremendously thankful for all the assistance provided by the research team at NGO Stellit in St. Petersburg.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale School of Public Health, 60 College Street, New Haven, CT 06520, USA

    Javier A. Cepeda, Robert Heimer, Lauretta E. Grau & Linda M. Niccolai

  2. Saint-Petersburg Non-Governmental Organization of Social Projects “Stellit”, Saint-Petersburg, Russia

    Veronika A. Odinokova, Alexandra Lyubimova, Liliya Safiullina & Olga S. Levina

  3. Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS, Yale School of Public Health, 135 College Street, New Haven, CT 06520, USA

    Robert Heimer, Lauretta E. Grau & Linda M. Niccolai

Authors
  1. Javier A. Cepeda
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  2. Veronika A. Odinokova
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  3. Robert Heimer
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  4. Lauretta E. Grau
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  6. Liliya Safiullina
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  7. Olga S. Levina
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  8. Linda M. Niccolai
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Correspondence to Javier A. Cepeda.

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Cepeda, J.A., Odinokova, V.A., Heimer, R. et al. Drug Network Characteristics and HIV Risk Among Injection Drug Users in Russia: The roles of Trust, Size, and Stability. AIDS Behav 15, 1003–1010 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-010-9816-7

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