Measuring injecting risk behaviour in the second decade of harm reduction:a survey of injecting drug users in England

Aims. To measure risk behaviour among injecting drug users (IDUs) using the Injecting Risk Questionnaire (IRQ). Methods. Data were analysed from the f irst multi-sire survey of injecting risk behaviour among IDUs nor in contac t with drug services in England A total of 1214 IDUs were recruited from co mmunity settings in seven sites. Findings. Fifty-two per cent reported shar ing injecting equipment in the previous 4 weeks in response to a single que stion on sharing. This rose to 78% when asked more derailed and multiple qu estions on injecting risk practices. Levels of injecting risk behaviour did nor differ substantially by gender, age, length of injecting career, main drug of injection, previous treatment contact or geographical location. How ever, sharing partners were restricted to a median of two others. Conclusio n. These data raise questions concerning the extent to which levels of inje cting risk behaviour have increased over recent years, or the extent to whi ch previous monitoring systems underestimated levels of risk. None the less , the data confirm that the promotion of safer injecting continues to be an important public health issue with regard to reducing blood-borne infectio ns.