title: Occupational Safety in the Age of the Opioid Crisis: Needle Stick Injury among Baltimore Police.
abstract: At a time of resurgence in injection drug use and injection-attributable infections, needle stick injury (NSI) risk and its correlates among police remain understudied. In the context of occupational safety training, a convenience sample of 771 Baltimore city police officers responded to a self-administered survey. Domains included NSI experience, protective behaviors, and attitudes towards syringe exchange programs. Sixty officers (8%) reported lifetime NSI. Officers identifying as Latino or other race were almost three times more likely (aOR 2.58, 95% CI 1.12-5.96) to have experienced NSI compared to whites, after adjusting for potential confounders. Findings highlight disparate burdens of NSIs among officers of color, elevating risk of hepatitis, HIV, and trauma. Training, equipment, and other measures to improve occupational safety are critical to attracting and safeguarding police, especially minority officers.
authors.affiliation: Division of Global Public Health, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0507, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA. jacepeda@ucsd.edu.
authors.forename: Javier A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Cepeda
authors.affiliation: Division of Global Public Health, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, MC 0507, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.|School of Law, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.|Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Leo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Beletsky
authors.affiliation: Baltimore City Health Department, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sawyer
authors.affiliation: Baltimore City Health Department, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Serio-Chapman
authors.affiliation: Independent Consultant, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Smelyanskaya
authors.affiliation: Baltimore City Health Department, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Behavioral Health System, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Natanya
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Robinowitz
authors.affiliation: Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Susan G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Sherman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015142:Baltimore / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016602:Needlestick Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016272:Occupational Health; D009293:Opioid-Related Disorders; D016495:Police; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Needle stick injury; People who inject drugs; Police