Community-based survey of human immunodeficiency virus infection and risk factors among injection drug users in Urumqi, Xinjiang.

Objective To investigate prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus(HIV) infection and risk factors for its transmission among injection drug users(IDUs) in Urumqi of Xingjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.Methods A community-based survey was conducted to investigate the past and current demographic data,injection equipment sharing patterns and sexual behavior of IDUs.Blood samples were collected and tested for HIV infection.The survey was conducted from July to December,2002,and 780 subjects were screened through outreach recruitment and peer informing.Results The HIV prevalence among IDUs was 29.1%(227/780).Gender,ethnicity,education,sharing injection equipment with HIV positive person and front/backloading in the last three months were significantly associated with HIV infection after univariate analysis using chi-squared test(P0.05).Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that gender(OR=2.24;95%CI,1.16-4.34),ethnicity(Uyghr∶Han OR=3.89;95%CI,2.69-5.62),frequency of using heroin(OR=1.69;95%CI,1.20-2.38),sharing needles or syringes(OR=1.48;95%CI,1.02-2.15) were also significantly associated with HIV infection among IDUs.No significant difference was found between HIV infection and sexual behavior after univariate analysis using chi-square test.Conclusions Gender,ethnicity,frequency of using heroin,frequency of sharing syringes during the past three months associate with HIV infection.