AN EVALUATION OF DRUG INJECTION BEHAVIORS AND HIV-INFECTION

This paper investigates domains of drug injection behavior and the ass ociation of derived factors to HIV serostatus. Two sets of data were r andomly selected and matched from a national data set of over 40,000 d rug injectors. One set was HIV seropositive and the other HIV seronega tive heterosexual injectors. Samples were matched to control for the e ffects of race/ethnicity, gender, and age on serostatus. Factor analys is was used to investigate relationships among drug injection behavior s. Four independent factors were found. Two factors were found to be s tatistically related to HN serostatus in high seroprevalence areas. No ne of the needle use factors was found to be significantly associated with serostatus in low seroprevalence areas.