My. Iguchi et Da. Bux, REDUCED PROBABILITY OF HIV-INFECTION AMONG CRACK COCAINE-USING INJECTION-DRUG USERS, American journal of public health, 87(6), 1997, pp. 1008-1012
Objectives. This study examined in greater detail the authors' previou
sly reported finding that crack use among injection drug users is asso
ciated with lower levels of infection with the human immunodeficiency
virus HIV). Methods. Self-reported data and blood tests for HIV antibo
dies from 4840 out-of-treatment injection drug users were used to exam
ine relationships among crack use, HIV risk behavior, and HIV infectio
n. Results. Crack use was significantly associated with higher levels
of many sexual risk and needle use behaviors and was consistently asso
ciated, independently of all behavioral variables examined, with lower
rates of HIV infection. Conclusions. Crack use among injection drug u
sers appears to be associated with lower risk for HIV infection indepe
ndently of other behavioral variables.