Skip to main content

Table 2 Demographic characteristics of 349 people who used drugs in 8 rural US studies, 2018–2020

From: Strategies used to reduce harms associated with fentanyl exposure among rural people who use drugs: multi-site qualitative findings from the rural opioid initiative

 

Total

Illinois

Kentucky

North Carolina

New England

Ohio

Oregon

Wisconsin

West Virginiaf

Interviewees (data sent by studies used)

349 (100%)

22 (6%)

57 (16%)

65 (19%)

22 (6%)

26 (7%)

52 (15%)

60 (17%)

45 (13%)

Malea

194 (64%)

14 (64%)

35 (61%)

34 (52%)

10 (45%)

15 (58%)

28 (54%)

33 (55%)

25 (56%)

Average age

36

37

35

36

33

37

39

35

38

Race

         

White

213 (61%)

20 (91%)

56 (98%)

15 (23%)

15 (68%)

not asked

49 (94%)

58 (97%)

(0%)

Black

2 (1%)

2 (9%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

–

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

Native American

8 (2%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

5 (8%)

1 (5%)

–

1 (2%)

1 (2%)

0 (0%)

Mixed race

5 (1%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

2 (3%)

0 (0%)

–

2 (4%)

1 (2%)

0 (0%)

Other

1 (0%)

0 (0%)

1 (2%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

–

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

Not given/Not askedb

120 (34%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

43 (66%)

6 (27%)

262 (100%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

45 (100%)

Interviewees (coded interview data used)

349 (100%)

22 (6%)

57 (16%)

65 (19%)

22 (6%)

26 (7%)

52 (15%)

60 (17%)

45 (13%)

Substance use

         

Ever IDU

331 (95%)

20 (91%)

57 (100%)

65 (100%)

21 (95%)

17 (65%)

52 (100%)

56 (93%)

43 (96%)

Current IDU

318 (91%)

19 (86%)

57 (100%)

65 (100%)

18 (82%)

15 (58%)

50 (96%)

55 (92%)

39 (87%)

Heroin

214 (61%)

8 (36%)

30 (53%)

51 (78%)

18 (82%)

13 (50%)

41 (79%)

34 (57%)

19 (42%)

Fentanyl

78 (22%)

1 (5%)

17 (30%)

26 (40%)

14 (64%)

3 (12%)

6 (12%)

6 (10%)

5 (11%)

Methamphetamine

225 (64%)

14 (64%)

37 (65%)

61 (94%)

4 (18%)

6 (23%)

47 (90%)

41 (68%)

15 (33%)

Other

226 (65%)

4 (18%)

54 (95%)

61 (94%)

15 (68%)

10 (38%)

21 (40%)

28 (47%)

33 (73%)

Surveyed Intervieweesc (survey data used)

144 (100%)

22 (15%)

23 (16%)

23 (16%)

16 (11%)

NA

NA

60 (42%)

NA

Substance use

         

Current (Past 30 days)

143 (100%)

22 (100%)

23 (100%)

23 (100%)

16 (100%)

NA

NA

59 (98%)

NA

Recruited by

         

Service or program staff

6 (4%)

2 (9%)

0 (0%)

4 (17%)

0 (0%)

NA

NA

0 (0%)

NA

Other

83 (58%)

11 (50%)

14 (61%)

9 (39%)

14 (88%)

NA

NA

35 (58%)

NA

Not indicated

55 (38%)

9 (41%)

9 (39%)

10 (43%)

2 (13%)

NA

NA

25 (42%)

NA

Interviewees (data sent by studies used)

304 (100%)

22 (7%)

57 (19%)

65 (21%)

22 (7%)

26 (9%)

52 (17%)

60 (20%)

NA

Education

         

 < High school

56 (18%)

1 (5%)

21 (37%)

13 (20%)

3 (14%)

7 (27%)

not asked

11 (18%)

not asked

H.S. or GED

97 (32%)

11 (50%)

22 (39%)

21 (32%)

9 (41%)

11 (42%)

–

23 (38%)

–

Some college

61 (20%)

7 (32%)

6 (11%)

20 (31%)

3 (14%)

6 (23%)

–

19 (32%)

–

Assoc/trade deg

16 (5%)

3 (14%)

8 (14%)

0 (0%)

1 (5%)

0 (0%)

–

4 (7%)

–

 >  = B.A

12 (4%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

8 (12%)

0 (0%)

1 (4%)

–

3 (5%)

–

Not answeredd

62 (20%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

3 (5%)

6 (27%)

1 (4%)

52d (100%)

0 (0%)

–

Income Source

         

Full-time work (40 h/wk)

44 (14%)

not asked

6 (11%)

13 (20%)

0 (0%)

10 (38%)

not asked

15 (25%)

not asked

Part-time work

26 (9%)

–

6 (11%)

7 (11%)

2 (9%)

1 (4%)

–

10 (17%)

–

Retirement check

2 (1%)

–

2 (4%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

–

0 (0%)

–

Public assistance check – like TANF, AFDC etc

29 (10%)

–

29 (51%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

–

0 (0%)

–

Disability check, like SSI, military or other

19 (6%)

–

0 (0%)

10 (15%)

4 (18%)

1 (4%)

–

4 (7%)

–

Selling drugs

4 (1%)

–

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

1 (5%)

0 (0%)

–

3 (5%)

–

Selling sex

1 (0%)

–

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

–

1 (2%)

–

Theft, shoplifting etc

3 (1%)

–

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

1 (5%)

0 (0%)

–

2 (3%)

–

Someone supports me

15 (5%)

–

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

2 (9%)

0 (0%)

–

13 (22%)

–

Other

12 (4%)

–

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

6 (27%)

1 (4%)

–

5 (8%)

–

Unemployed

59 (19%)

–

13 (23%)

34 (52%)

0 (0%)

12 (46%)

–

0 (0%)

–

Missinge

90 (30%)

22e (100%)

1 (2%)

1 (2%)

6 (27%)

1 (4%)

52e (100%)

7 (12%)

–

  1. aOne interviewee from OR identified as “Neither”male of female
  2. bSome NC and NE interviewees did not give their race/ethnicity. OH did not ask interviewees their race/ethnicity
  3. cSome, but not all, participants completed a quantitative survey before their interview
  4. dOR did not ask interviewees about education
  5. eIL and OR did not ask interviewees about income source. WI had 4 “Refuse to answer and 3 “Don’t know” responses. KY, NC, NE and OH had interviewees who did not answer the question
  6. fWV did not ask questions about race, ethnicity, or education
  7. gEthnicity data (e.g., Hispanic, non-Hispanic) was not collected
  8. hUnited States abbreviations are as follows: Illinois (IL), Kentucky (KY), North Carolina (NC), New England (NE, including Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont), Ohio (OH), Oregon (OR), Wisconsin (WI), West Virginia (WV)
Back to article page

Harm Reduction Journal

ISSN: 1477-7517