Socioeconomic factors associated with cessation of injection drug use among street-involved youth

Table 2 Unadjusted and adjusted hazard ratios (HR) for factors associated with cessation of injection drug use among street youth who inject drugs: At-Risk Youth Study (ARYS), Vancouver, British Columbia, 2005–2015 (n = 383)

	Unadjusted HR (95% CI)	Adjusted HR (95% CI)^a	p Value^e
Sociodemographic characteristics
Age (per year older)	1.00 (0.99–1.01)
Female Gender	1.01 (0.73–1.40)
Caucasian Ethnicity	1.09 (0.75–1.60)
High school education^b	1.10 (0.79–1.54)
Drug use related factors
Any heroin use^c	0.58 (0.42–0.81)	0.55 (0.34–0.87)	0.010
Any prescription opioid use^c	0.75 (0.56–1.02)
Any crystal meth use^c	0.64 (0.47–0.88)	0.65 (0.42–1.01)	0.054
Any cocaine use^c	1.16 (0.86–1.56)
Any crack use^c	1.08 (0.79–1.47)
Mental health related factors
Mental illness history	1.07 (0.76–1.54)
Childhood physical or sexual abuse^d	0.82 (0.56–1.18)
Depression^d	0.64 (0.43–0.93)	0.64 (0.41–1.01)	0.053
Socioeconomic factors
Homeless^d	0.68 (0.51–0.90)	1.25 (0.86–1.83)	0.246
Living with family^d	1.76 (1.22–2.55)	1.21 (0.73–2.02)	0.459
Evicted^d	0.44 (0.22–0.89)	0.59 (0.29–1.21)	0.152
Living in the Downtown Eastside^d	0.58 (0.42–0.82)	0.67 (0.42–1.06)	0.085
Employed^d	1.49 (1.11–2.01)
Loss of income assistance^d	0.54 (0.25–1.16)
Accessed health care^d	1.11 (0.81–1.54)
Incarcerated^d	0.57 (0.37–0.88)	0.83 (0.46–1.51)	0.546
Sex work^d	0.40 (0.23–0.72)	0.62 (0.29–1.33)	0.221
Dealt drugs^d	0.37 (0.25–0.56)	0.50 (0.29–0.87)	0.015
Prohibited street-based income generating activities^d,f	0.50 (0.34–0.72)	0.41 (0.24–0.69)	0.001
Illegal income generating activities^d,g	0.25 (0.13–0.50)	0.19 (0.06–0.61)	0.005

^aVariables significant at p < 0.10 in bivariate models were eligible for possible inclusion in the multivariate model (extended Cox proportional hazards regression model); variables included in the final multivariate model were identified using a backward selection approach to minimize the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC)
^bDenotes completion of or current enrollment in high school
^cIncludes both non-injection and injection use; drug use behaviors were lagged by one visit in order to assess behaviors during the 6 months when participants who ceased were still injecting
^dReported for the 6 months prior to the last follow-up visit at which a participant was still injecting
^e P-values refer to adjusted HR
^fProhibited street-based income generating activities included panhandling, recycling, and squeegeeing
^gIllegal income generating activities included theft, robbing, fraud, and other illegal actives excluding sex work and drug dealing

ISSN: 1747-597X