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Table 1 Characteristics of SSP clients in southern Wisconsin with respect to FTS use

From: Characteristics and context of fentanyl test strip use among syringe service clients in southern Wisconsin

Characteristics

m (SD) or %

Unadj. p value

Adj. p value

All

FTS use

No FTS use

N = 341

N = 274

N = 67

Site

   

0.016

 

 Beloit

71 (20.8)

52 (19.0)

19 (28.4)

 

0.798

 Kenosha

80 (23.5)

58 (21.2)

22 (32.8)

 

0.009

 Madison

79 (23.2)

66 (24.1)

13 (19.4)

 

0.844

 Milwaukee

111 (32.6)

98 (35.8)

13 (19.4)

 

Ref

Age

35.7 (8.6)

35.4 (8.1)

36.9 (10.3)

0.600

0.807

Gender

   

0.677

 

 Man

202 (59.6)

159 (58.5)

43 (64.2)

 

Ref

 Nonbinary

7 (2.1)

6 (2.2)

1 (1.5)

 

0.987

 Trans

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

  

 Women

130 (38.3)

107 (39.3)

23 (34.3)

 

0.988

Race and ethnicity

   

0.009

 

 Black or African American, non-Hispanic

24 (7.1)

13 (4.8)

11 (16.4)

 

0.006

 Hispanic, any race

21 (6.2)

18 (6.6)

3 (4.5)

 

0.852

 Other or multiple categories, non-Hispanic

32 (9.4)

25 (9.2)

7 (10.4)

 

0.202

 White, non-Hispanic

263 (77.4)

217 (79.5)

46 (68.7)

 

Ref

Education

   

0.149

 

 Less than high school degree

38 (11.2)

30 (11.0)

8 (11.9)

 

0.891

 High school, GED or equivalent

162 (47.6)

124 (45.4)

38 (56.7)

 

Ref

 Some college, trade school or 2y college

129 (37.9)

111 (40.7)

18 (26.9)

 

0.103

 4 years college degree or beyond

11 (3.2)

8 (2.9)

3 (4.5)

 

0.298

Employment

   

0.669

 

 Employed and not job-seeking

41 (12.1)

35 (12.8)

6 (9.0)

 

0.254

 Unemployed and not job-seeking

56 (16.5)

44 (16.1)

12 (17.9)

 

0.489

 Unemployed and job-seeking

243 (71.5)

194 (71.1)

49 (73.1)

 

Ref

County is majority urban

318 (93.8)

255 (93.4)

63 (95.5)

0.536

0.665

Years of drug use

12.2 (8.2)

11.9 (7.9)

13.0 (9.4)

0.494

0.621

Age at first regular drug use

23.5 (7.2)

23.4 (7.4)

23.9 (6.8)

0.381

–

Current drug of choice

   

< 0.001

 

 Heroin

241 (70.7)

202 (73.7)

39 (58.2)

 

Ref

 Fentanyl

43 (12.6)

36 (13.1)

7 (10.4)

 

0.428

 Opioid analgesics

10 (2.9)

2 (0.7)

8 (11.9)

 

< 0.001

 Cocaine or Crack Cocaine

32 (9.4)

23 (8.4)

9 (13.4)

 

0.336

 Methamphetamine

15 (4.4)

11 (4.0)

4 (6.0)

 

0.354

 Synthetics

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

  

 Prescription anxiety drugs

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

  

 Prescription amphetamines

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

  

 Some other drug

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

  

How often do you try to get drugs with fentanyl?

   

0.009

0.009

 Every time you get drugs

17 (5.0)

17 (6.2)

0

  

 Most of the time

49 (14.4)

39 (14.3)

10 (14.9)

  

 Sometimes

102 (30.0)

86 (31.5)

16 (23.9)

  

 Rarely

71 (20.9)

60 (22.0)

11 (16.4)

  

 Never

101 (29.7)

71 (26.0)

30 (44.8)

  

Usual route of drug use

   

< 0.001

-

 Inject or shoot it into a vein

299 (87.9)

255 (93.4)

44 (65.7)

  

 Inject or shoot it into a muscle

4 (1.2)

2 (0.7)

2 (3.0)

  

 Snort it

24 (7.1)

10 (3.7)

14 (20.9)

  

 Smoke it

12 (3.5)

6 (2.2)

6 (9.0)

  

 Eat or swallow it

1 (0.3)

0 (0.0)

1 (1.5)

  

 Insert it rectally

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

  

 Use skin popping

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

  

 Some other method

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

  

Drug of choice use frequency in past 30 days

   

0.103

0.650

 Less than once per day

18 (5.3)

12 (4.4)

6 (9.0)

  

 1 time per day

15 (4.4)

10 (3.6)

5 (7.5)

  

 2 times per day

40 (11.7)

30 (10.9)

10 (14.9)

  

 3 or more times per day

268 (78.6)

222 (81.0)

46 (68.7)

  

Polysubstance usea

252 (73.9)

210 (76.6)

42 (62.7)

0.020

0.764

Lifetime count of opioid overdose

4.4 (8.4)

4.7 (9.1)

3.3 (4.5)

0.202

0.517

Recent treatments used to stop or reduce useb

     

 Mutual help groups

74 (21.8)

60 (22.0)

14 (20.9)

0.847

0.973

 Group program like IOP

73 (21.5)

58 (21.2)

15 (22.4)

0.838

0.702

 Individual counseling

154 (45.3)

121 (44.3)

33 (49.3)

0.467

0.320

 Medications

190 (55.9)

156 (57.1)

34 (50.7)

0.345

0.669

 No treatment

81 (23.8)

66 (24.2)

15 (22.4)

0.758

–

 Other

12 (3.5)

11 (4.0)

1 (1.5)

0.313

–

Recent medications to stop or reduce useb,c

    

–

 Buprenorphine formulations

122 (64.6)

100 (64.1)

22 (66.7)

0.780

 

 Extended-release naltrexone

14 (7.4)

13 (8.3)

1 (3.0)

0.291

 

 Methadone

84 (44.4)

75 (48.1)

9 (27.3)

0.029

 

 Other

10 (5.3)

7 (4.5)

3 (9.1)

0.283

 
  1. Bold indicates the results that were < 0.05
  2. Adjusted p-values represent results of logistic regression to test the association between FTS use and table characteristics, excluding age at first regular use, usual route of use and recent medications due to collinearity
  3. Missing: Gender—2; Race and Ethnicity—1; Education—1; Employment—1; County—2; Years of drug use—3; Age at first regular drug use—2; Current drug of choice—1; Try to get fentanyl—1; Usual route—1; Overdose count – 4; Recent treatments—1; Recent medications—152
  4. Associations with continuous variables were tested using Mann–Whitney-Wilcoxon tests and associations with categorical variables were tested with chi-square tests
  5. FTS fentanyl test strips, m mean, SD standard deviation, adj adjusted, unadj unadjusted, GED general educational development
  6. aPolysubstance use is defined as use of more than one category of drugs excluding alcohol and marijuana
  7. bRecent treatments refers to past 3 months
  8. cQuestion was limited to individuals who reported using medications in the past 3 months to stop or reduce their drug use