Health disparities and injection drug use behaviors among adults with and without disabilities in the National Survey on drug use and health, 2015–2019

Background: Little is known about the prevalence of injection drug use in people with disabilities (PWD) when compared by disability type and to other adults without disabilities. Objective or hypothesis: The prevalence of past-year injection drug use will be higher in adults with a reported disability than adults without any reported disability. Methods: This study consisted of secondary analyses of data from the 2015–2019 National Survey of Drug Use and Health. The analytic sample comprised 214,505 US adults. Self-reported past-year injection drug use represented the outcome of interest. Disability status and socioeconomic characteristics were conceptualized as predictors, and sex and age were used as controls. Results: Past-year prevalence of self-reported injection drug use was 0.24 % (95 % CI, 0.22–0.27) in adults without a disability but 0.66 % (95 % CI, 0.59–0.73) in adults with a disability. All disability types examined were associated with increased odds of reporting past-year injection drug use, but the strongest association was observed for disability related to difficulty concentrating (AOR, 4.90; 95 % CI, 3.92–6.14). Adjusted odds of past-year methamphetamine injection were more than three times as high in adults with a disability, compared to those without a disability (AOR, 3.21; 95 % CI, 2.37–4.33) and more than two times as high in adults with a disability for cocaine injection (AOR, 2.77; 95 % CI, 1.84–4.15). Conclusion: Disability status is associated with injection of various types of drugs, and a variety of disability types are associated with higher odds of injection drug use.