Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Jul 3;14(1):41.
doi: 10.1186/s12954-017-0171-0.

An analysis of respondent-driven sampling with injecting drug users in a high HIV prevalent state of India

Sanjib Kumar Phukan  1 , Gajendra Kumar Medhi  2 , Jagadish Mahanta  1 , Rajatashuvra Adhikary  3 , Gay Thongamba  4 , Ramesh S Paranjape  5 , Brogen S Akoijam  6
Affiliations

An analysis of respondent-driven sampling with injecting drug users in a high HIV prevalent state of India

Sanjib Kumar Phukan et al. Harm Reduct J. .

Abstract

Background: Personal networks are significant social spaces to spread of HIV or other blood-borne infections among hard-to-reach population, viz., injecting drug users, female sex workers, etc. Sharing of infected needles or syringes among drug users is one of the major routes of HIV transmission in Manipur, a high HIV prevalence state in India. This study was carried out to describe the network characteristics and recruitment patterns of injecting drug users and to assess the association of personal network with injecting risky behaviors in Manipur.

Methods: A total of 821 injecting drug users were recruited into the study using respondent-driven sampling (RDS) from Bishnupur and Churachandpur districts of Manipur; data on demographic characteristics, HIV risk behaviors, and network size were collected from them. Transition probability matrices and homophily indices were used to describe the network characteristics, and recruitment patterns of injecting drug users. Univariate and multivariate binary logistic regression models were performed to analyze the association between the personal networks and sharing of needles or syringes.

Results: The average network size was similar in both the districts. Recruitment analysis indicates injecting drug users were mostly engaged in mixed age group setting for injecting practice. Ever married and new injectors showed lack of in-group ties. Younger injecting drug users had mainly recruited older injecting drug users from their personal network. In logistic regression analysis, higher personal network was found to be significantly associated with increased likelihood of injecting risky behaviors.

Conclusion: Because of mixed personal network of new injectors and higher network density associated with HIV exposure, older injecting drug users may act as a link for HIV transmission or other blood-borne infections to new injectors and also to their sexual partners. The information from this study may be useful to understanding the network pattern of injecting drug users for enriching the HIV prevention in this region.

Keywords: HIV; Personal network; Respondent-driven sampling; Sharing needle syringe; Younger IDUs.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

The ethical clearance for the study was obtained from the Health Ministry Screening Committee (Indian Council of Medical Research), and the ethical committee of Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) and from Family Health International 360’s Protection of Human Subjects Committee (PHSC). We have included the statement of ethics approval in our manuscript. The authors have declared that written consent and permission was obtained from each respondent for collecting the data and for publishing the information without mentioning their name.

Consent for publication

The authors have declared that written consent and permission was obtained from each respondent for collecting the data and for publishing the information without mentioning their name.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

References

    1. Heckathorn DD. Respondent-driven sampling: a new approach to the study of hidden populations. Soc Probl. 1997;44(2):174–99. doi: 10.2307/3096941. - DOI
    1. Heckathorn DD. Respondent-driven sampling II: deriving valid population estimates from chain-referral samples of hidden populations. Soc Probl. 2002;49(1):11–34. doi: 10.1525/sp.2002.49.1.11. - DOI
    1. Weeks MR, Clair S, Borgatti SP, Radda K, Schensul JJ. Social networks of drug users in high-risk sites: finding the connections. AIDS Behav. 2002;6(2):193–206. doi: 10.1023/A:1015457400897. - DOI
    1. Latkin CA, Davey-Rothwell MA, Knowlton AR, Alexander KA, Williams CT, Boodram B. Social network approaches to recruitment, HIV prevention, medical care, and medication adherence. Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999) 2013;63(0 1):S54. doi: 10.1097/QAI.0b013e3182928e2a. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Friedman SR, Neaigus A, Jose B, Curtis R, Goldstein M, Ildefonso G, … & Des Jarlais DC. Sociometric risk networks and risk for HIV infection. American Journal of Public Health. (1997;87(8):1289-1296. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms