Willingness of Chinese injection drug users to participate in HIV vaccine trials

Abstract

Chinese injection drug users (IDUs) may be a proper candidate population for HIV vaccine trials. To evaluate willingness to participate (WTP) in HIV vaccine trials among Chinese IDUs. Questionnaire interviews were completed among 401 IDUs in Urumqi City in northwestern China in 2005. Overall 74.3% of participants said that they would be definitely willing to participate in HIV vaccine trials, 17.7% were probably willing, 6.2% were probably not willing, and remaining 1.8% were definitely not willing to join. Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that WTP was positively associated with having ever had sex with a drug use partner (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 1.8; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.04, 3.2), sharing needle and syringe with a new drug use partner in the past 3 months (AOR: 3.8; 95% CI: 1.2, 11.7), perceived family support for participation (AOR: 7.4; 95% CI: 4.3, 12.7), and perceived vaccine protection against HIV infection (AOR: 16.1; 95% CI: 3.7, 70.8), and was negatively associated with perceived risk of social stigma and isolation for participation (AOR: 0.3; 95% CI: 0.2, 0.5). The stated WTP in hypothetical HIV vaccine trials was high among Chinese IDUs. Further studies are needed to evaluate actual enrollment into the trials.