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Table 3 Recent drug use and injection practices

From: Risky injection practices and HCV awareness in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand: a respondent-driven sampling study of people who inject drugs

Drug use and injection practices (N = 164)

N (%)

Population estimates in % [95% CI]

Drug used in the last 6 months

 Heroin

130 (79.3)

84.5 [77.1–92.0]

 Methamphetamine

74 (45.1)

42.6 [29.7–55.2]

 Sedatives

51 (31.1)

26.7 [16.8–36.5]

 Opium

28 (17.1)

17.8 [9.0–26.6]

 Methadone

115 (70.1)

72.1 [54.6–89.7]

Age at first intravenous drug use (years)

  < 18

31 (18.9)

16.0 [9.2–23.0]

 18–24

63 (38.4)

38.1 [27.9–48.2]

  ≥ 25

70 (42.7)

45.9 [35.2–56.6]

Duration of intravenous drug use since first injection (years)

  < 1

25 (15.2)

15.3 [8.2–22.2]

 1–5

49 (29.9)

31.9 [22.3–41.3]

 5–10

34 (20.7)

16.4 [10.0–23.0]

  ≥ 10

56 (34.2)

36.4 [27.4–45.7]

Frequency of injection (mutually exclusive)

 Every day

55 (33.6)

29.5 [19.0–40.0]

 Several times per week, but less than every day

31 (18.9)

16.0 [9.5–22.5]

 Several times per month, but less than every week

21 (12.8)

13.3 [5.8–20.7]

 Once a month or less

57 (34.8)

41.1 [30.8–51.7]

Needle supplier

 Pharmacy

145 (88.4)

87.9 [81.3–94.4]

 Needle exchange programme

20 (12.2)

8.0 [3.4–12.5]

 Friends

22 (13.4)

16.9 [9.8–24.0]

Shared needles (last 6 months)

45 (27.6)

22.1 [15.7–28.6]

Shared other injection material (last 6 months)

54 (32.9)

32.0 [23.6–40.4]

Reused needles (last 6 months)

109 (66.5)

63.1 [52.2–73.9]

Ever experienced an overdose

43 (26.2)

22.6 [15.0–30.3]