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Table 1 Study participant characteristics by primary syringe source: New England (NH, VT, MA), 2018–2019 (n = 397)

From: HCV serostatus and injection sharing practices among those who obtain syringes from pharmacies and directly and indirectly from syringe services programs in rural New England

Characteristic

Direct SSP (n = 89)

Pharmacy (n = 106)

Indirect SSP (n = 72)

Other Sources (n = 130)

Sociodemographics-%

 Female

36

33

44

51

 Age (years)-median (IQR)

36 (30–42)

31 (28–39)

34 (28–41)

33 (27–40)

 Race: White

92

93

93

92

 Sexual orientation: bisexual/homosexual/othera

17

16

17

19

 High school education or higher

81

69

74

72

 Employment: Full/part-time

34

45

29

30

 Experienced homelessness (past 6 months)

55

56

57

62

Criminal justice involvement-%

 Incarcerated (past 6 months)

23

31

28

39

Injection drug use-%

 Years injecting-median (IQR)

9 (4–16.5)

9 (4–14.5)

8 (5–16)

10 (5–14)

 Inject at least daily (past 30 days)

75

66

65

46

 Inject multiple times per sitting (past 30 days)

81

84

79

73

 Inject heroin (past 30 days)

94

94

90

89

 Inject cocaine (past 30 days)

52

55

58

47

 Inject methamphetamine (past 30 days)

19

25

39

26

 Inject speedball or screwball (past 30 days)

37

36

43

29

Addiction treatment-%

 Ever received MOUD

76

75

75

73

Infectious disease-%

 HCV seropositive

71

69

75

77

Injection sharing practices-%

 Borrow used syringes (past 30 days)

34

43

50

65

 Borrow other used injection equipment (past 30 days)

39

59

63

69

 Backloading (past 30 days)

33

43

50

61

  1. SSP = syringe services program; MOUD = medications for opioid use disorder; HCV = hepatitis C virus Antibody positive
  2. Chi-square tests were used for categorical variables, ANOVA was used for continuous variables
  3. aMost PWID in the “bisexual/homosexual/other” category identified as bisexual (88.4%)