title: Predictors of active injection drug use in a cohort of patients infected with hepatitis C virus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We investigated potential risk factors for active injection drug use (IDU) in an inner-city cohort of patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV).
  
  
  METHODS
  We used log-binomial regression to identify factors independently associated with active IDU during the first 3 years of follow-up for the 289 participants who reported ever having injected drugs at baseline.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, 142 (49.1%) of the 289 participants reported active IDU at some point during the follow-up period. In a multivariate model, being unemployed (prevalence ratio [PR] = 1.93; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.24, 3.03) and hazardous alcohol drinking (PR = 1.67; 95% CI = 1.34, 2.08) were associated with active IDU. Smoking was associated with IDU but this association was not statistically significant. Patients with all 3 of those factors were 3 times as likely to report IDU during follow-up as those with 0 or 1 factor (PR = 3.3; 95% CI = 2.2, 4.9). Neither HIV coinfection nor history of psychiatric disease was independently associated with active IDU.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Optimal treatment of persons with HCV infection will require attention to unemployment, alcohol use, and smoking in conjunction with IDU treatment and prevention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02118, USA.
authors.forename: Carrie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Reed
authors.forename: Caleb
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bliss
authors.forename: Sherri O
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Stuver
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Heeren
authors.forename: Sheila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tumilty
authors.forename: C Robert
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Horsburgh
authors.forename: Jeffrey H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Samet
authors.forename: Deborah J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Cotton
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D016174:Hepacivirus; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D014478:Unemployment; D055815:Young Adult