Clinical characteristics and risk behavior as a function of HIV status among heroin users enrolled in methadone treatment in northern Taiwan

Table 2 HIV risk behavior, psychiatric symptoms, and quality of life as a function of HIV status.

		HIV-positive	HIV-negative	Total
Sexual Risk
Engaging in sex within last 6 months (n = 528) ^a	Yes	47 (70%)	413 (90%)	460 (87%) **
	No	20 (30%)	48 (10%)	68 (13%)
Condom use at last sexual encounter (n = 460)	Yes	36 (77%)	192 (46%)	228 (50%) **
	No	11 (23%)	221 (54%)	232 (50%)
Frequency of condom use within last 6 months (n = 391) ^a	Always/Frequently	16 (42%)	66 (18%)	82 (21%) **
	Often/Sometimes	9 (24%)	76 (22%)	85 (22%)
	Few/Never	13 (34%)	211 (60%)	224 (57%)
Drug-related risk
Heroin injection within last 6 months (n = 518) ^a	Yes	54 (81%)	403 (89%)	457 (88%) *
	No	13 (19%)	48 (11%)	61 (12%)
Sharing syringes during last 6 months (n = 457) ^a	Always/Frequently	2 (4%)	3 (1%)	5 (1%)
	Often/Sometimes	5 (9%)	19 (5%)	24 (5%)
	Few/Never	47 (87%)	381 (94%)	428 (94%)
Psychiatric Symptoms (n = 523) ^a
Anxiety	No	51 (78.5%)	362 (79.0%)	413 (79.0%)
	Yes	14 (21.5%)	96 (21.0%)	110 (21.0%)
Depression	No	47 (72.3%)	334 (72.9%)	381 (72.8%)
	Yes	18 (27.7%)	124 (27.1%)	142 (27.2%)
Memory loss	No	46 (70.8%)	306 (66.8%)	352 (67.3%)
	Yes	19 (29.2%)	152 (33.2%)	171 (32.7%)
Attempted suicide	No	46 (70.8%)	306 (66.8%)	352 (67.3%)
	Yes	19 (29.2%)	152 (33.2%)	171 (32.7%)
Psychiatric medication prescribed	No	52 (80.0%)	386 (84.5%)	438 (83.9%)
	Yes	13 (20.0%)	71 (15.5%)	84 (16.1%)
Quality of life (n = 551) ^a	Range 0 to 100	(mean ± SD)	(mean ± SD)	(mean ± SD)
Physical domain		58.22 ± 17.57	56.80 ± 16.07	56.98 ± 16.25
Psychological domain		45.27 ± 15.91	48.91 ± 14.77	48.46 ± 14.95
Social domain		50.51 ± 19.05	54.02 ± 18.54	53.58 ± 18.62
Environment domain		53.42 ± 16.79	51.45 ± 17.13	51.69 ± 17.08

* p < 0.05.
** p < 0.01.
^a Missing values were omitted from the statistical analyses.
Note: χ² and t tests were used to examine differences between the HIV groups on categorical and continuous variables respectively. A Fisher exact test was performed to examine the relationship between syringe sharing and HIV.

ISSN: 1747-597X