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Table 1 Factors associated with food insufficiency among injection drug users (n = 1,053)

From: Hunger and associated harms among injection drug users in an urban Canadian setting

Characteristics

Yes

65 (%)

N = 681

No

35 (%)

N = 372

Odds Ratio

(95% CI)

Chi-Square†, ‡

p - value

Socio-demographic

     

Age

     

   Median (IQR)

41.1 (34.5-46.7)

42.8 (35.9-49.4)

0.98 (0.97, 0.99)

7.75

0.005

Gender

     

   Male

455 (66.81%)

245 (65.86%)

1.04 (0.80,1.36)

0.10

0.754

   Female

226 (33.19%)

127 (34.12%)

   

Aboriginal identity

     

   Yes

189 (27.75%)

118 (31.72%)

0.83 (0.63, 1.09)

1.83

0.176

   No

492 (72.25%)

254 (68.28%)

   

DTES Residency

     

   Yes

496 (72.83%)

210 (56.45%)

2.07 (1.59, 2.70)

29.22

< 0.001

   No

185 (27.17%)

162 (43.55%)

   

Unstable housing

     

   Yes

504 (74.01%)

207 (55.65%)

2.27 (1.74, 2.96)

36.99

< 0.0001

   No

177 (25.99%)

165 (44.35%)

   

Education status

     

   High school or greater

345 (50.66%)

205 (55.11)

0.84 (0.65, 1.08)

1.91

0.167

   Other

336 (49.34%)

167 (44.89%)

   

Money spent on drugs per day

     

   ≥ $50

422 (61.97%)

167 (44.89%)

2.00 (1.55, 2.58)

28.46

< 0.001

   < $50

259 (38.03%)

205 (55.11%)

   

Incarceration **

     

   Yes

138 (20.26%)

54 (14.52%)

1.50 (1.06, 2.11)

5.33

0.021

   No

543 (79.74%)

318 (85.48%)

   

Clinical

     

Symptoms of depression *

     

   ≥ 16 CES-D

456 (66.96%)

159 (42.74%)

3.73 (2.80, 4.98)

88.19

< 0.001

   < 16 CES-D

136 (19.97%)

177 (47.48%)

   

Drug Use

     

Daily injection heroin**

     

   Yes

240 (35.24%)

88 (23.66%)

1.76 (1.32, 2.34)

15.06

< 0.001

   No

441 (64.76%)

284 (76.34%)

   

Daily non-injection crack/rock **

     

   Yes

321 (47.14%)

111 (29.84%)

2.10 (1.60, 2.74)

29.75

< 0.001

   No

360 (52.86%)

261 (70.16%)

   

Daily injection cocaine**

     

   Yes

69 (10.13%)

28 (7.53%)

1.39 (0.88, 2.19)

1.95

0.162

   No

612 (89.87%)

344 (92.47%)

   

Any injection or non-injection crystal meth**

     

   Yes

28 (4.11%)

9 (2.42%)

1.73 (0.81, 3.71)

2.03

0.154

   No

653 (95.89%)

363 (97.58%)

   

Any injection or non-injection drug binge**

     

   Yes

352 (51.69%)

146 (39.25%)

1.66 (1.28, 2.14)

14.94

0.001

   No

329 (48.31%)

226 (60.75%)

   

Daily alcohol use

     

   < = 4 drinks

496 (72.83%)

279 (75.00%)

1.12 (0.84, 1.49)

0.58

0.446

   > 4

185 (27.17%)

93 (25.00%)

   

Difficulty accessing drug/alcohol treatment

     

   Yes

38 (5.58%)

14 (3.76%)

1.51 (0.81, 2.83)

1.69

0.193

   No

643 (94.42%)

358 (96.24%)

   
  1. * Data missing for 125 participants
  2. ** In the past six months
  3. All Chi-Square tests were performed with one degree of freedom (df = 1), with the exception of the
  4. 'symptoms of depression' variable, where df = 2.
  5. ‡ Chi-Squared Test were applied to all categorical variables. A Wald Test was applied to the continuous
  6. 'age' variable, yielding a Wald Chi-Square value.