Network Structure and the Risk for HIV Transmission Among Rural Drug Users

Overview

Journal AIDS Behav

Specialty Infectious Diseases

Date 2012 Nov 28

PMID 23184464

Citations 54

Authors

A M Young

A B Jonas

U L Mullins

D S Halgin

J R Havens

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Research suggests that structural properties of drug users' social networks can have substantial effects on HIV risk. The purpose of this study was to investigate if the structural properties of Appalachian drug users' risk networks could lend insight into the potential for HIV transmission in this population. Data from 503 drug users recruited through respondent-driven sampling were used to construct a sociometric risk network. Network ties represented relationships in which partners had engaged in unprotected sex and/or shared injection equipment. Compared to 1,000 randomly generated networks, the observed network was found to have a larger main component and exhibit more cohesiveness and centralization than would be expected at random. Thus, the risk network structure in this sample has many structural characteristics shown to be facilitative of HIV transmission. This underscores the importance of primary prevention in this population and prompts further investigation into the epidemiology of HIV in the region.

Citing Articles

Structural conditions, social networks, and the HIV vulnerability among Indonesian male labour migrants and motorbike taxi drivers.

Ward P, Fauk N Int J Equity Health. 2025; 24(1):61.

PMID: 40033297 PMC: 11874762. DOI: 10.1186/s12939-025-02420-7.

The Implementation Climate for Integrating Buprenorphine Prescribing into Rural Primary Care.

Fenstemaker C, Abrams E, King K, Obringer B, Brook D, Go V J Gen Intern Med. 2024; .

PMID: 39668316 DOI: 10.1007/s11606-024-09260-1.

Understanding the progress of COVID-19 transmission in a rural district: a social network approach.

Mansor J, Safian N, Razak F, Ismail H, Ghazali M, Ismail N PeerJ. 2024; 12:e18571.

PMID: 39619183 PMC: 11608564. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.18571.

Primary care professionals' perspectives on tailoring buprenorphine training for rural practice.

Fenstemaker C, Abrams E, Obringer B, King K, Dhanani L, Franz B J Rural Health. 2024; 40(4):671-680.

PMID: 38486066 PMC: 11399318. DOI: 10.1111/jrh.12832.

Network centrality and HIV prevention service use among people who inject drugs: Findings from a sociometric network cohort in New Delhi, India.

Prata Menezes N, Mehta S, Wesolowski A, Clipman S, Srikrishnan A, Kumar M Addiction. 2023; 119(3):570-581.

PMID: 37967827 PMC: 11003398. DOI: 10.1111/add.16379.

References

Potterat J, Rothenberg R, Muth S . Network structural dynamics and infectious disease propagation. Int J STD AIDS. 1999; 10(3):182-5. DOI: 10.1258/0956462991913853. View

Rothenberg R, Sterk C, Toomey K, Potterat J, Johnson D, Schrader M . Using social network and ethnographic tools to evaluate syphilis transmission. Sex Transm Dis. 1998; 25(3):154-60. DOI: 10.1097/00007435-199803000-00009. View

Ghani A, Swinton J, Garnett G . The role of sexual partnership networks in the epidemiology of gonorrhea. Sex Transm Dis. 1997; 24(1):45-56. DOI: 10.1097/00007435-199701000-00009. View

Broadhead R, Heckathorn D, Weakliem D, Anthony D, Madray H, Mills R . Harnessing peer networks as an instrument for AIDS prevention: results from a peer-driven intervention. Public Health Rep. 1998; 113 Suppl 1:42-57. PMC: 1307726. View

Delaney K, Branson B, Uniyal A, Kerndt P, Keenan P, Jafa K . Performance of an oral fluid rapid HIV-1/2 test: experience from four CDC studies. AIDS. 2006; 20(12):1655-60. DOI: 10.1097/01.aids.0000238412.75324.82. View

Rothenberg R . HIV transmission networks. Curr Opin HIV AIDS. 2009; 4(4):260-5. PMC: 2884281. DOI: 10.1097/COH.0b013e32832c7cfc. View

Young A, Havens J . Transition from first illicit drug use to first injection drug use among rural Appalachian drug users: a cross-sectional comparison and retrospective survival analysis. Addiction. 2011; 107(3):587-96. PMC: 3262084. DOI: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2011.03635.x. View

Lovell A . Risking risk: the influence of types of capital and social networks on the injection practices of drug users. Soc Sci Med. 2002; 55(5):803-21. DOI: 10.1016/s0277-9536(01)00204-0. View

Weeks M, Convey M, Dickson-Gomez J, Li J, Radda K, Martinez M . Changing drug users' risk environments: peer health advocates as multi-level community change agents. Am J Community Psychol. 2009; 43(3-4):330-44. PMC: 2883050. DOI: 10.1007/s10464-009-9234-z. View

10.

Jonas A, Young A, Oser C, Leukefeld C, Havens J . OxyContin® as currency: OxyContin® use and increased social capital among rural Appalachian drug users. Soc Sci Med. 2012; 74(10):1602-9. PMC: 3331592. DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.12.053. View

11.

Luke D, Harris J . Network analysis in public health: history, methods, and applications. Annu Rev Public Health. 2007; 28:69-93. DOI: 10.1146/annurev.publhealth.28.021406.144132. View

12.

Helleringer S, Kohler H . Sexual network structure and the spread of HIV in Africa: evidence from Likoma Island, Malawi. AIDS. 2007; 21(17):2323-32. DOI: 10.1097/QAD.0b013e328285df98. View

13.

Newman M, Strogatz S, Watts D . Random graphs with arbitrary degree distributions and their applications. Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2001; 64(2 Pt 2):026118. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.64.026118. View

14.

Potterat J, Muth S, Rothenberg R, Green D, Taylor J, Bonney M . Sexual network structure as an indicator of epidemic phase. Sex Transm Infect. 2002; 78 Suppl 1:i152-8. PMC: 1765821. DOI: 10.1136/sti.78.suppl_1.i152. View

15.

Klovdahl A, Potterat J, Woodhouse D, Muth J, Muth S, Darrow W . Social networks and infectious disease: the Colorado Springs Study. Soc Sci Med. 1994; 38(1):79-88. DOI: 10.1016/0277-9536(94)90302-6. View

16.

Brewer D, Potterat J, Muth S, Gisselquist D, Brody S . Disconnects in presumed heterosexual HIV transmission in Malawi. AIDS. 2008; 22(11):1377. DOI: 10.1097/QAD.0b013e3282fc7306. View

17.

Friedman S, Neaigus A, Jose B, Curtis R, Goldstein M, Ildefonso G . Sociometric risk networks and risk for HIV infection. Am J Public Health. 1997; 87(8):1289-96. PMC: 1381088. DOI: 10.2105/ajph.87.8.1289. View

18.

De P, Singh A, Wong T, Yacoub W, Jolly A . Sexual network analysis of a gonorrhoea outbreak. Sex Transm Infect. 2004; 80(4):280-5. PMC: 1744860. DOI: 10.1136/sti.2003.007187. View

19.

Wang J, Falck R, Li L, Rahman A, Carlson R . Respondent-driven sampling in the recruitment of illicit stimulant drug users in a rural setting: findings and technical issues. Addict Behav. 2006; 32(5):924-37. DOI: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2006.06.031. View

20.

Oser C, Smiley McDonald H, Havens J, Leukefeld C, Webster J, Cosentino-Boehm A . Lack of HIV seropositivity among a group of rural probationers: explanatory factors. J Rural Health. 2006; 22(3):273-5. DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-0361.2006.00045.x. View