title: Characteristics of injection drug users who utilize tuberculosis services at sites of the Baltimore city needle exchange program.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe characteristics of needle-exchange program (NEP) participants who utilized tuberculosis services from an NEP site.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between June 1998 and May 1999, tuberculosis services were advertised and offered to Baltimore, Maryland, NEP participants. Demographic and tuberculosis-specific data were collected on participants who self-selected into services. Analyses were based on being tuberculin skin tested, returning for a skin test reading, and testing tuberculin positive.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 691 contacts with NEP participants, this service performed 296 tuberculin tests, with an 84% return rate for skin test reading. Participants were 32% female, 87% African American, and 11% employed. Higher frequency of NEP visits was positively associated with requesting tuberculosis services and returning for skin test reading. Among those who returned for skin test reading, longer smoking duration and problems getting food in the past year due to a lack of money were associated with a positive test.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Utilization of a tuberculosis service and high return rates can be achieved among NEP participants without formal recruitment strategies. Frequent exchange appears to facilitate return visits for NEP-based tuberculosis screening, which may imply accessibility for frequent exchangers. More extensive health services at sites of the Baltimore NEP appear to be warranted, with particular attention paid to effectiveness for frequent exchangers.
authors.affiliation: University of California at San Francisco, Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, San Francisco, USA.
authors.forename: Elise D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Riley
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vlahov
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huettner
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Beilenson
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bonds
authors.forename: Richard E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Chaisson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015142:Baltimore / Q000453:epidemiology; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018671:Needle-Exchange Programs; D011634:Public Health; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D014374:Tuberculin Test / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy