Geographical injecting locations among injecting drug users in Sydney, Australia

FRANÇAIS :
Enquête transversale auprès de 200 usagers de drogues injectables à Sydney sur les risques et les facteurs liés à l'injection dans des lieux publics. 96% avaient pratiqué l'injection de drogues dans des lieux publics : les voitures (90%), les toilettes publiques (81%), la rue (80%), le train (55%) et de façon fréquente pour 53% d'entre eux. Ces usagers sont le plus souvent des hommes, ils sont plus susceptibles d'avoir eu une overdose et de s'injecter plus de drogues différentes, dans les 6 mois précédents et ils ont plus de problèmes liés à l'injection que les autres usagers de drogues injectables.
ENGLISH:
Aims. To document the geographical injection locations of IDU, and the factors and harms associated with injecting in public places. Design. Cross-sectional survey. Setting. Sydney, Australia. Participants. Two hundred injecting drug users. Findings. Nearly all subjects (96%) had injected in a public place, and 89% had done so in the preceding 6 months. Large proportions had injected in all locations studied, includinq cars (90%), public, toilets (81%), the street (80%) and trains (55%). Injecting in public places also occurred frequently, with 53% of subjects having injected often in at least one public location during the preceding 6 months. Twenty-seven per cent of subjects had injected often in the street over the preceding 6 months, 22% had injected often in cars and 17% had injected often in public toilets. Frequent injectors in public places were more likely to be male, and to have overdosed in the preceding 6 months, injected significantly more drug classes in the preceding 6 months injected in more bodily injecting sites in the preceding 6 months and had more current injection-related problems than other IDU. Conclusions. Injecting in public places was practised by the overwhelming majority of the sample, and a pattern of increased harm was associated with frequent public injecting. In attempting to quantify the harm associated with injecting, and to reduce such harm, the locations injections take place in are of major importance. (Author' s abstract)