Table 1 Differences between male injecting drug users retained and lost to follow-up in Kabul, Afghanistan, 2007–2009
Baseline-only group (n = 97) | Cohort group (n = 386) | ||
Variable | Median (IQR) | Median (IQR) | p value |
Age (years) | 27, (24–32) | 28 (24–35) | 0.10 |
Duration of injecting (years) | 1 (0–4) | 2 (1–6) | <0.01 |
Age initiated injecting (years) | 25 (21–28) | 24 (21–29) | 0.92 |
Level of education (years) | 5 (2–9) | 5 (0–8) | 0.69 |
Variable | n (%) | n, (%) | p value |
Ever married | 51 (53) | 173 (45) | 0.17 |
Born in Afghanistan | 85 (88) | 333 (87) | 0.73 |
Lived outside Afghanistan in the last 5 years | 60 (62) | 250 (65) | 0.51 |
Homeless at enrollment | 9 (9) | 99 (26) | <0.01 |
Employed at enrollment | 11 (11) | 45 (12) | 0.91 |
Prior incarceration | 60 (62) | 242 (63) | 0.79 |
Initiated injecting in Afghanistan | 76 (78) | 245 (64) | <0.01 |
Initiated injecting as a refugeea | 18 (20) | 124 (36) | <0.01 |
Initiated injection within the last 12 months | 33 (34) | 78 (20) | <0.01 |
Shared needles/syringes within 3 months of enrollment (baseline report) | 2 (2) | 70 (8 | 0.06 |
Shared injecting equipment within 3 months of enrollment (baseline report) | 26 (27) | 106 (28) | 0.90 |
Ever inject/re-aspirate blood | 70 (72) | 267 (69) | 0.64 |
NSP service use at enrollment | 54 (56) | 204 (53) | 0.67 |
Receive prior addiction treatment | 10 (10) | 60 (16) | 0.18 |
HCV infection at baseline | 18 (19) | 156 (40) | <0.01 |
HIV infection at baseline | 1 (1) | 9 (2) | 0.70 |