Drug Use Patterns and Infection with Sexually Transmissible Agents Among Young Adults in a High-Risk Neighborhood in New York City

• NCJ Number: 200597
• Journal: Addiction Volume: 98 Issue: 2 Dated: February 2003 Pages: 159-169
• Author(s): Samuel R. Friedman; Peter L. Flom; Benny J. Kottiri; Jonathan Zenilman; Richard Curtis; Alan Neaigus; Milagros Sandoval; Thomas Quinn; Don C. Des Jarlais
• Date Published: February 2003
• Length: 11 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This study examined whether the severity and manner of drug abuse was related to the prevalence of several sexually transmissible infections among young adults in a high-risk neighborhood in New York City.

Abstract

For the purposes of this study, drug use "hardness," from the least to the greatest "hardness," was designated as no drug use, marijuana use, non-injected heroin or cocaine use, crack smoking, and injection drug use. The study design involved a cross-sectional survey and assays of young adults from a household probability sample and a targeted sample of youth who had used injected drugs, crack, other cocaine, or heroin. The setting for the study was an impoverished New York City minority neighborhood (Bushwick) with major drug markets. The household probability sample consisted of 363 18- to 24-year-olds, and the targeted sample was composed of 165 Bushwick 18- to 24-year-olds who had used injected drugs, crack, other cocaine, or heroin. Data were obtained from self-reports of drug use and serum-based and urine-based assays for HIV, hepatitis B and C, syphilis, gonorrhoea, chlamydia, and herpes simplex-type 2 (HSV-2). The data on drug-use category and infection supported the overall hypothesis, i.e., that hierarchically higher-risk drug use is related to infection among young adults in Bushwick for HIV, hepatitis C, and HSV-2; and among young women for hepatitis B and syphilis. Drug injectors and perhaps crack smokers were potential sources for sexual transmission of hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HSV-2, and syphilis to other young adults. The authors advise that for those infections where hierarchically higher drug use is related to rates of infection, helping youth avoid such high-risk drug use may contribute to disease prevention, although additional research is required to determine whether the statistical associations observed in this study are causal. Other research recommendations are also offered. 4 tables and 55 references