Table 1 Differences between male injecting drug users retained and lost to follow-up in Kabul, Afghanistan, 2007–2009

Baseline-only group (n = 97)

Cohort group (n = 386)

Variable

Median (IQR)

Median (IQR)

p value

 Age (years)

27, (24–32)

28 (24–35)

0.10

 Duration of injecting (years)

1 (0–4)

2 (1–6)

<0.01

 Age initiated injecting (years)

25 (21–28)

24 (21–29)

0.92

 Level of education (years)

5 (2–9)

5 (0–8)

0.69

Variable

n (%)

n, (%)

p value

 Ever married

51 (53)

173 (45)

0.17

 Born in Afghanistan

85 (88)

333 (87)

0.73

 Lived outside Afghanistan in the last 5 years

60 (62)

250 (65)

0.51

 Homeless at enrollment

9 (9)

99 (26)

<0.01

 Employed at enrollment

11 (11)

45 (12)

0.91

 Prior incarceration

60 (62)

242 (63)

0.79

 Initiated injecting in Afghanistan

76 (78)

245 (64)

<0.01

 Initiated injecting as a refugee^a

18 (20)

124 (36)

<0.01

 Initiated injection within the last 12 months

33 (34)

78 (20)

<0.01

 Shared needles/syringes within 3 months of enrollment

(baseline report)

2 (2)

70 (8

0.06

 Shared injecting equipment within 3 months of enrollment (baseline report)

26 (27)

106 (28)

0.90

 Ever inject/re-aspirate blood

70 (72)

267 (69)

0.64

 NSP service use at enrollment

54 (56)

204 (53)

0.67

 Receive prior addiction treatment

10 (10)

60 (16)

0.18

 HCV infection at baseline

18 (19)

156 (40)

<0.01

 HIV infection at baseline

1 (1)

9 (2)

0.70