Conference abstract
Distribution of injection drug use epidemics in Ukraine
Tetyana Vasylyeva, Tatiana Andreeva
BACKGROUND. Ukraine is an Eastern European country affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. From the beginning, the key HIV transmission route in Ukraine was parenteral, mostly due to the injection drug use (IDU). It is widely hypothesized that epidemics of IDU and consequently of HIV started in different parts of Ukraine at different points in time, and thus the prognosis of such epidemics may differ. So we aimed to study the distribution of IDU epidemics in time and by region of Ukraine.
METHODS. The data were from 2007 survey of 4026 injection drug users commissioned by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine. The dependent variable was the duration of IDU. Independent variables included region, type of drug used, and such socio-demographic factors as age, gender, and marital status. The data were analyzed in SPSS software using generalized linear model.
RESULTS. Duration of IDU showed statistically significant associations with region (with the longest duration in Odeska, Mykolayivska and Crimea regions; and the shortest in Sumska region), age (the older the respondent was, the longer duration of IDU was), sex (men had longer duration of IDU than women), marital status (those married but not living with their spouses had longer duration of IDU), and type of the drug used (opiate users had longer duration of drug use than stimulant users).
CONCLUSIONS. Our analysis confirms earlier observations that IDU and HIV epidemics started in southern regions of Ukraine and then spread to other regions. As with other risky behaviors, men started injecting drugs earlier than women. Those who currently use opiates have started using drugs earlier than those who use stimulants. The association between the duration of IDU and the marital status may be due to the fact that the longer the use of drugs is, the more social connections get destroyed.
Abstracts (pdf) in English and Ukrainian
