Estimated Number of IDUs in US Metropolitan Areas
and Service Coverage for Them
A paper entitled “Estimating numbers of IDUs in metropolitan areas for structural analyses of community vulnerability and for assessing relative degrees of service provision for IDUs” was recently published in the Journal of Urban Health. It received considerable publicity, particularly in California in relation to the recent enactment of a bill legalizing pharmacy sales of syringes to injection drug users (IDUs) as a way to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. The article estimates the population prevalence of current injection drug users in 96 large US metropolitan areas. It also assesses the extent to which drug abuse treatment and HIV counseling and testing are made available to drug injectors in each metropolitan area. Prevalence of drug injectors per 10,000 population varied from 19 to 173 (median 60; interquartile range 42–87). Proportions of drug injectors in treatment varied from 1.0% to 39.3% (median 8.6%); and the ratio of HIV counseling and testing events to the estimated number of IDUs varied from 0.013 to 0.285 (median 0.082). Despite limitations in the accuracy of these estimates, they can be used for structural analyses of the correlates and predictors of the population density of drug injectors in metropolitan areas and for assessing the extent of service delivery to drug injectors. Although service provision levels varied considerably, few if any metropolitan areas seemed to be providing adequate levels of services. The research was part of the recently-refunded Community Vulnerability and Response to IDU-Related HIV project (NIDA grant R01 DA13336).
Friedman, Samuel R, Tempalski, Barbara, Cooper, Hannah, Perlis, Theresa, Keem, Marie, Friedman, Risa, Flom, Peter L. (2004). Estimating numbers of IDUs in metropolitan areas for structural analyses of community vulnerability and for assessing relative degrees of service provision for IDUs. Journal of Urban Health 81:377-400.
See also “Fresno welcomes new needle rules,” Juliana Barbassa, Associated Press, September 25, 2004. Copyright 2004, ContraCostaTimes, Knight Ridder.
September, 2004