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Abstract
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To assess the association between educational attainment and injecting risk behaviors among Iranian Intravenous Drug Users (IDUs). Methods: This was a cross-sectional study 1051 IDUs were sampled from streets of eight different geographical parts of Iran. Education attainment and other socio-demographics were entered to logistic regressions to determine the association between educational attainment and injecting risk behaviors during the past month. Results: 58.0% of IDUs reported that they had injected drugs using shared syringe/ needle and 52.7% reported having shaved using a used razor during the past six months. 54.8% reported having injected by a used syringe/needle, 57.8% reported having injected with other injectors, and 48% reported sharing needles/ syringes with other drug injectors during the past month. Higher education was associated with lower odds of injecting drugs using shared syringe/ needle (Adjusted OR=0.807, 95% CI=0.728 -0.895) and shaving by a used razor (Adjusted OR=0.871, 95% CI=0.786- 0.966) during the past six month. Higher education was associated with lower odds of injecting by a used syringe/needle (Adjusted OR=0.746, 95% CI=0.666 -0.836), injecting with other injectors (Adjusted OR=0.787, 95% CI=0.704-0.88), and sharing needles/ syringes with other drug injectors (Adjusted OR=0.761, 95% CI=0.679- 0.853) during the past month. Conclusion: Higher education was consistently protective against all injection risk behaviors. Specific public health programs in Iran are needed to target IDUs who have low education attainment.
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