The Influence of Spatial Proximity to Sterile Syringe Sources and Secondary Syringe Exchange on HCV Risk Among Rural People Who Inject Drugs

无菌注射器来源的空间接近性和二次注射器交换对农村注射吸毒者 HCV 风险的影响

• 批准号: 10424527
• 负责人: Eric Romo
• 金额: $ 5.18万
• 依托单位: UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS MED SCH WORCESTER
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-07-06 至 2024-07-05
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10424527
• 关键词: Address; Adult; Affect; Behavior; Caring; Communicable Diseases; Communities; Country; County; Cross-Sectional Studies; Data; Development; Disease Outbreaks; Drug user; Economic Policy; Environment; Environmental Risk Factor; Epidemic; Equipment; Future; Geography; HIV; HIV risk; HIV/HCV; Harm Reduction; Hepatitis C; Hepatitis C Transmission; Hepatitis C virus; Incidence; Indiana; Individual; Infection; Injecting drug user; Injections; Intervention; Interview; Knowledge; Link; Massachusetts; Mediating; Methods; Modeling; Names; Needle Sharing; Needle-Exchange Programs; New England; New Hampshire; Outcome; Participant; Pathway Analysis; Perception; Persons; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Pharmacy facility; Physical environment; Research; Resource-limited setting; Resources; Risk; Rural; Rural Community; Sales; Services; Social Environment; Social Network; Source; Sterility; Surveys; Syringes; Vermont; Virus; Vulnerable Populations; Work; disease transmission; experience; injection drug use; opioid epidemic; peer; prescription opioid; prevent; rural counties; social; social influence; transmission process; urban setting; virtual

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT The current U.S. opioid epidemic has fueled an increase in injection drug use and, in turn, an alarming surge in new hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections. Between 2010 and 2015, the incidence of HCV increased by 294% nationally, driven primarily by a rise in injection drug use and risky injection behavior – namely syringe sharing. This growing epidemic has disproportionately affected young people who inject drugs (PWID) in rural communities. There is an urgent need to implement tailored and effective harm reduction strategies to rural PWID who are disproportionately impacted by HCV. Although research has shown that syringe services and pharmacy syringe sales (i.e sterile syringe sources) are associated with a reduction in injection-mediated risks and HIV transmission, the evidence for whether these services reduce HCV risk among PWID remains mixed. This proposal will applying the risk environment model to evaluate the influence of sterile syringe sources on the HCV risk environment. Specifically, this proposal will evaluate whether spatial proximity to sterile syringe sources and receptive secondary syringe exchange are associated with HCV serostatus among rural PWID. The aims are: (1) To evaluate the association between road network distance to the nearest sterile syringe source (SSP or pharmacy that sells nonprescription syringes) and HCV serostatus; (2) To use egocentric social network analysis to evaluate the association between receptive secondary syringe exchange and HCV serostatus; (3) to explore and unpack rural PWIDs’ perceptions of and experiences with syringe acquisition and syringe sharing practices through in-depth interviews. These findings could help inform the development of future harm reduction interventions in rural New England, a region of the country that has been particularly hard hit by the opioid epidemic and related HCV infections.

项目摘要/摘要