Social networks, secondary syringe exchange, and opioid agonist therapy retention among people who inject drugs in Hartford, CT

Background: Opioid agonist therapies (OAT) and harm reduction such as syringe service programs (SSP) have been shown to be effective in preventing adverse outcomes such as overdose deaths, HIV and Hepatitis C in-fections among people who inject drugs (PWID). The importance of social network influenc...

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Main Authors: Zelenev, Alexei, Michael, Laura, Li, Jianghong, Altice, Frederick L.
Format: Article
Published: Elsevier 2024
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Online Access:http://eprints.um.edu.my/44246/
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2023.104250
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spelling my.um.eprints.442462024-06-27T05:00:33Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/44246/ Social networks, secondary syringe exchange, and opioid agonist therapy retention among people who inject drugs in Hartford, CT Zelenev, Alexei Michael, Laura Li, Jianghong Altice, Frederick L. HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine RC Internal medicine Background: Opioid agonist therapies (OAT) and harm reduction such as syringe service programs (SSP) have been shown to be effective in preventing adverse outcomes such as overdose deaths, HIV and Hepatitis C in-fections among people who inject drugs (PWID). The importance of social network influence on disease trans-mission is well established, yet the interplay between harm reduction and network structures is, generally, not well understood. This study aims to analyze how social networks can mediate the harm reduction effects asso-ciated with secondary exchange through syringe service programs (SSP) and opioid agonist therapies (OAT) among injection network members.Methods: Sociometric data on networks on people who inject drugs from Hartford, CT, which were collected in 2012-2013, provided assessment of risk behaviors among 1574 injection network members, including partici-pation in OAT and SSP. Subject's network characteristics were examined in relation to retention in OAT, as well as secondary syringe exchange using exponential random graph model (ERGM) and regression.Results: Based on the analysis, we found that probability of individuals being retained in OAT was positively associated with the OAT retention status of their peers within the network. Using simulations, we found that higher levels of positive correlation of OAT retention among network members can result in reduced risk of transmission of HIV to network partners on OAT. In addition, we found that secondary syringe exchange engagement was associated with higher probability of sharing of paraphernalia and unsterile needles at the network level.Conclusions: Understanding how networks mediate risk behaviors is crucial for making progress toward ending the HIV epidemic. Elsevier 2024-01 Article PeerReviewed Zelenev, Alexei and Michael, Laura and Li, Jianghong and Altice, Frederick L. (2024) Social networks, secondary syringe exchange, and opioid agonist therapy retention among people who inject drugs in Hartford, CT. International Journal Of Drug Policy, 123. ISSN 0955-3959, DOI https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2023.104250 <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2023.104250>. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2023.104250 10.1016/j.drugpo.2023.104250
institution Universiti Malaya
building UM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider Universiti Malaya
content_source UM Research Repository
url_provider http://eprints.um.edu.my/
topic HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
RC Internal medicine
spellingShingle HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
RC Internal medicine
Zelenev, Alexei
Michael, Laura
Li, Jianghong
Altice, Frederick L.
Social networks, secondary syringe exchange, and opioid agonist therapy retention among people who inject drugs in Hartford, CT
description Background: Opioid agonist therapies (OAT) and harm reduction such as syringe service programs (SSP) have been shown to be effective in preventing adverse outcomes such as overdose deaths, HIV and Hepatitis C in-fections among people who inject drugs (PWID). The importance of social network influence on disease trans-mission is well established, yet the interplay between harm reduction and network structures is, generally, not well understood. This study aims to analyze how social networks can mediate the harm reduction effects asso-ciated with secondary exchange through syringe service programs (SSP) and opioid agonist therapies (OAT) among injection network members.Methods: Sociometric data on networks on people who inject drugs from Hartford, CT, which were collected in 2012-2013, provided assessment of risk behaviors among 1574 injection network members, including partici-pation in OAT and SSP. Subject's network characteristics were examined in relation to retention in OAT, as well as secondary syringe exchange using exponential random graph model (ERGM) and regression.Results: Based on the analysis, we found that probability of individuals being retained in OAT was positively associated with the OAT retention status of their peers within the network. Using simulations, we found that higher levels of positive correlation of OAT retention among network members can result in reduced risk of transmission of HIV to network partners on OAT. In addition, we found that secondary syringe exchange engagement was associated with higher probability of sharing of paraphernalia and unsterile needles at the network level.Conclusions: Understanding how networks mediate risk behaviors is crucial for making progress toward ending the HIV epidemic.
format Article
author Zelenev, Alexei
Michael, Laura
Li, Jianghong
Altice, Frederick L.
author_facet Zelenev, Alexei
Michael, Laura
Li, Jianghong
Altice, Frederick L.
author_sort Zelenev, Alexei
title Social networks, secondary syringe exchange, and opioid agonist therapy retention among people who inject drugs in Hartford, CT
title_short Social networks, secondary syringe exchange, and opioid agonist therapy retention among people who inject drugs in Hartford, CT
title_full Social networks, secondary syringe exchange, and opioid agonist therapy retention among people who inject drugs in Hartford, CT
title_fullStr Social networks, secondary syringe exchange, and opioid agonist therapy retention among people who inject drugs in Hartford, CT
title_full_unstemmed Social networks, secondary syringe exchange, and opioid agonist therapy retention among people who inject drugs in Hartford, CT
title_sort social networks, secondary syringe exchange, and opioid agonist therapy retention among people who inject drugs in hartford, ct
publisher Elsevier
publishDate 2024
url http://eprints.um.edu.my/44246/
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2023.104250
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score 13.18916