16th International AIDS Conference Toronto, Canada - August 13 - 18, 2006

CHARACTERISTICS OF YOUNG INJECTION DRUG USERS IN CANADA

Int Conf AIDS. 2006 Aug 13-18;16 Abstract No. TuAc0301

D. Paquette¹, Y. Choudhri¹, M. Hennink², P. Millson³, C. Morissette⁴, M. Fyfe⁵, S. Snelling⁶, J. Wylie⁷, C. Archibald¹, the I-Track Study Team
¹ Public Health Agency of Canada, Centre for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Ottawa, Canada, ² Regina Qu'Appelle Health Authority, Population and Public Health Services, Regina, Canada, ³ University of Toronto, HIV Social, Behavioural and Epidemiological Studies Unit, Toronto, Canada, ⁴ Institut national de santé publique du Québec, Montreal, Canada, ⁵ Vancouver Island Health Authority, Victoria, Canada, ⁶ Sudbury and District Health Unit, Sudbury, Canada, ⁷ Manitoba Health, Cadham Provincial Laboratory, Winnipeg, Canada

BACKGROUND: Limited data are available on young injection drug users (IDU) in Canada. The few studies available have shown high rates of risk behaviours, indicating a subgroup worthy of attention. The objective of this study is to describe young IDU to better guide HIV prevention programs in this population.

METHODS: I-track is a second generation surveillance system of IDU that tracks HIV, hepatitis C and associated risk behaviours in urban and semi-urban centres across Canada. Data collected from 2003-2005 in six sites (Victoria, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto and Sudbury) formed the basis of this analysis. Young IDU, defined as those aged 24 years or younger at the time of the survey, were compared with older IDU (>25 years) with respect to demographics, injection and sexual risk behaviours, and HIV seroprevalence.

RESULTS: Information on age was available for 1,435 of the 1,440 IDU who participated in I-track at the six sites in 2003-2005. Of these, 151 (10.5%) were young IDU. In comparison with older IDU, young IDU were significantly more likely to be female (52% vs. 34%; p<.0001), and significantly less likely to have graduated from high school (23% (using a subgroup of young IDU aged 19 to 24 yrs) vs. 44%; p<.0001). Young IDU were significantly more likely to have engaged in injecting and sexual risk behaviours, such as injecting with used equipment (44% vs. 30%; p<.001) and having casual sex partners (49% vs. 35%; p<.001). Significantly fewer young IDU were HIV positive (3% vs. 14%; p<.001).

CONCLUSIONS: Young IDU are an important group for HIV prevention activities, given their high rates of risky behaviours. Their lower prevalence of HIV infection, which likely reflects fewer years of potential exposure to HIV, indicates that there is an opportunity to avoid later infections by targeting interventions to young IDU.

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2006-08-13
TuAc0301

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