Table 1: Characteristics of Participants--United States, National HIV Behavioral Surveillance System: Injecting Drug Users, May 2005-February 2006

Characteristic No. %
Gender
Male 8,158 71
Female 3,313 29
Age Category (Years)
18-24 443 4
25-34 1,730 15
35-44 3,600 31
44-54 4,374 38
≥55 1,324 12
Race/Ethnicity
White 2,841 25
Black 5,630 49
Hispanic 2,429 21
Othera 571 5
Preferred Drug
Heroin 6,053 53
Heroin and Cocaineb 3,599 31
Cocaine or crack 788 7
Amphetaminec 626 6
Otherd 405 4
HIV-Positive
Yes 882 8
Noe 10,589 92
Relationship to Recruiterf
Main sex partner 355 3
Casual sex partner 178 2
Friend 6,543 59
Relative/family member 390 4
Person buy drugs from 332 3
Person buy drugs with 2,257 20
Person use drugs with 3,317 30
Person share needles with 609 6
Acquaintance 2,362 21
Stranger (only)g 519 5
Total 11,471

Abbreviations: HIV, human immunodeficiency virus.
a Includes Asians, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders, person who reported multiple races and those for whom race was not recorded.
b Heroin and cocaine use with equal frequency or combined as speedball.
c Includes methamphetamine.
d Includes all other drugs or combination of drugs.
e Includes those who tested HIV negative (n=9,048), those whose confirmatory test was indeterminate (n=41), those who never received a test result (n=532), those never tested (n=914) and those for whom HIV test status could not be ascertained (n=54).
f Relationships were reported by the participant; >1 response was allowed, therefore percentages do not add to 100. Seeds were not asked this question; percentages based on 11,137 participants
g Relationship was categorized as "stranger" if it was the only category chosen by the participant. If stranger was chosen as one of multiple categories, the responses appear in those categories but not in the "stranger" category.