The objective of this study was to understand the impact of hazardous and harmful use of alcohol and/or other drugs on ARV adherence and disease progression among HIV patients. A cross-sectional study design was used. A total of 1503 patients attending HIV clinics in Cape Town, South Africa were screened for problematic substance use. A sub-sample of 607 patients (303 patients who screened positive for problematic substance use and 304 who did not) participated in this study. Hazardous or harmful alcohol use and problematic drug use predicted missing and stopping ARVs which, in turn, was associated with a decrease in CD4 counts and more rapid HIV-disease progression and poorer health outcomes in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). The findings of this study underscore the need for an integrated approach to managing substance-use disorders in PLWHA.
Reference:
Kader, R., Govender, R., Seedat, S., Koch, J. R., & Parry, C. (2014). Understanding the impact of hazardous and harmful use of alcohol and/or other drugs on ARV adherence and disease progression. PloS one, 10(5), e0125088. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0125088
Kader, R., Govender, R., Seedat, S., Koch, J. R., & Parry, C. (2015). Understanding the impact of hazardous and harmful use of alcohol and/or other drugs on ARV adherence and disease progression. PLoS One, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16058
Kader, Rehana, Rajen Govender, Soraya Seedat, John Randy Koch, and Charles Parry "Understanding the impact of hazardous and harmful use of alcohol and/or other drugs on ARV adherence and disease progression." PLoS One (2015) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16058
Kader R, Govender R, Seedat S, Koch JR, Parry C. Understanding the impact of hazardous and harmful use of alcohol and/or other drugs on ARV adherence and disease progression. PLoS One. 2015; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16058.
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.