Correlates of drug injection behaviors among methadone outpatients

Intravenous drug use, which has been recognized as the second most common risk behavior associated with AIDS, was studied among methadone outpatients who were enrolled in a methadone program at a hospital-based clinic in New York City. Intercorrelations among the following variables were observed: sociodemographic, psychological, drug use patterns, and criminal history. Then a stepwise discriminant analysis was employed to examine factors differentiating the high risk clients from the lower risk clients in terms of needle use/sharing in the 30 days prior to the interview. The subjects (N = 152) were heterosexual (95%), non-White (63%), had no more than 12 years of education (72%), were not full-time employed (65%), and had been arrested at least once (79%). The median age at the time of entering the methadone treatment was 33 and the median length of stay in the treatment was 17.5 months (mean = 44.7 months), with an average 52 mg of methadone dosage. Results indicated that risk behavior in terms of current needle use/sharing occurred in about 16% of a sample of clients in the methadone maintenance. A shorter length of stay in treatment was the strongest predictor of high risk, followed by early arrest history, ethnicity, depression, and employment status.