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Hazardous alcohol use is associated with detrimental health outcomes among persons living with HIV (PLWH). We examined the prevalence and factors associated with hazardous alcohol use in the current era using several hazardous drinking definitions and binge drinking defined as ≥5 drinks for men versus ≥4 for women. We included 8567 PLWH from 7 U.S. sites from 2013 to 2015. Current hazardous alcohol use was reported by 27% and 34% reported binge drinking. In adjusted analyses, current and past cocaine/crack (odd ratio [OR] 4.1:3.3–5.1, p < 0.001 and OR 1.3:1.1–1.5, p < 0.001 respectively), marijuana (OR 2.5:2.2–2.9, p < 0.001 and OR 1.4:1.2–1.6, p < 0.001), and cigarette use (OR 1.4:1.2–1.6, p < 0.001 and OR 1.3:1.2–1.5, p < 0.001) were associated with increased hazardous alcohol use. The prevalence of hazardous alcohol use remains high in the current era, particularly among younger men. Routine screening and targeted interventions for hazardous alcohol use, potentially bundled with interventions for other drugs, remain a key aspect of HIV care.

Background Illicit drug use (DU) and hazardous drinking (HD) among marginalized populations may be associated with greater barriers to care. Methods We used baseline data on the participants of the Seek, Test, Treat, and Retain data harmonization initiative. DU includes use of any illicit drugs within the past 6 months. HD was defined as scores ≥8 for men and ≥ 7 for women on Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test within the past 12 months. Social support scores were assigned by summing scores from individual questions related to social support. Two outcomes for multivariable regression models and mediation analysis were perceived access to care and perceived barriers to care scores, calculated from summated points from individual questions within each domain. All models were adjusted for age, gender, race/ethnicity, and social support and stratified by HIV status. Results Among 1403 illicit drug users and 4984 non-drug users, the mean age was 39.6 ± 12.2 years old, 71% were male, 57% African Americans, and 39% Hispanic/Latinos. Over 25% reported difficulties in covering medical costs and finding transportation to health care facilities and greater proportions of drug users and hazardous drinkers reported these issues than non-DU/non-HD. In multivariable models, DU and HD were both independently associated with having greater barriers to care (β: 0.49 (95% confidence interval: 0.19 to 0.79) p  < 0.01; 0.31 (0.18 to 0.45) < 0.01) in HIV-negative participants. Neither DU nor HD was strongly associated with barriers to care for HIV-positive participants. Social support was associated with better perceived access to care and fewer barriers to care in the HIV-negative participants. Conclusion The current study found that financial burdens of care, logistical difficulties in accessing care, and low social support were common challenges among individuals using illicit drugs and/or drinking hazardously. Addressing structural barriers and strengthening social support may be important strategies to improve health care among marginalized populations, regardless of HIV status.

Background/objectivesPrevious studies consistently report that diet quality is inversely associated with risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes. However, few studies have assessed the association of diet quality with serum lipoproteins, an intermediate marker of cardio-metabolic health, or assessed whether type 2 diabetes modifies these associations. This study assessed associations of diet quality (evaluated using the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI)), and the interaction of diet quality with diabetes, on total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein (HDL-C), apolipoprotein A (apoA1), and apolipoprotein B (apoB) among American Indians (AIs).Subjects/methodsParticipants comprised AIs who participated in the Strong Heart Family Study (SHFS)—a study of CVD and its risk factors in 12 AI communities. Generalized estimated equations (GEEs) were used to examine the following associations: (1) the cross-sectional associations of diet quality (as determined by AHEI) with serum lipoproteins (n = 2200); and (2) the prospective associations of the AHEI measured at baseline with serum lipoproteins (n = 1899).ResultsIn cross-sectional analyses, associations of AHEI with TC (p < 0.0001) LDL-C (p = 0.005), and ApoB (p = 0.002) differed according to diabetes status. In prospective analysis, AHEI was associated with more favorable levels of TC (p = 0.029) and LDL-C (p = 0.008) among participants with diabetes independent of other demographic, behavioral, and health factors; associations of diet quality with TC, LDL-C, and ApoB were much weaker among participants without diabetes. There was no association of diet quality with TG, HDL-C, or ApoA.ConclusionsThe associations of diet quality with TC, LDL-C, and ApoB differ according to diabetes status.

Objective To characterize and address the opioid crisis disproportionately impacting rural U.S. regions. Methods The Rural Opioid Initiative (ROI) is a two-phase project to collect and harmonize quantitative and qualitative data and develop tailored interventions to address rural opioid use. The baseline quantitative survey data from people who use drugs (PWUD) characterizes the current opioid epidemic (2018–2020) in eight geographically diverse regions. Results Among 3,084 PWUD, 92% reported ever injecting drugs, 86% reported using opioids (most often heroin) and 74% reported using methamphetamine to get high in the past 30 days; 53% experienced homelessness in the prior 6 months; and 49% had ever overdosed. Syringe service program use varied by region and 53% had ever received an overdose kit or naloxone prescription. Less than half (48%) ever received medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD). Conclusions The ROI combines data across eight rural regions to better understand drug use including drivers and potential interventions in rural areas with limited resources. Baseline ROI data demonstrate extensive overlap between opioid and methamphetamine use, high homelessness rates, inadequate access to MOUD, and other unmet needs among PWUD in the rural U.S. By combining data across studies, the ROI provides much greater statistical power to address research questions and better understand the syndemic of infectious diseases and drug use in rural settings including unmet treatment needs.

Background Cox proportional hazards regression models are used to evaluate associations between exposures of interest and time-to-event outcomes in observational data. When exposures are measured on only a sample of participants, as they are in a case-cohort design, the sampling weights must be incorporated into the regression model to obtain unbiased estimating equations. Methods Robust Cox methods have been developed to better estimate associations when there are influential outliers in the exposure of interest, but these robust methods do not incorporate sampling weights. In this paper, we extend these robust methods, which already incorporate influence weights, so that they also accommodate sampling weights. Results Simulations illustrate that in the presence of influential outliers, the association estimate from the weighted robust method is closer to the true value than the estimate from traditional weighted Cox regression. As expected, in the absence of outliers, the use of robust methods yields a small loss of efficiency. Using data from a case-cohort study that is nested within the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) longitudinal cohort study, we illustrate differences between traditional and robust weighted Cox association estimates for the relationships between immune cell traits and risk of stroke. Conclusions Robust weighted Cox regression methods are a new tool to analyze time-to-event data with sampling, e.g. case-cohort data, when exposures of interest contain outliers.

The prevalence of substance use in people with HIV (PWH) in the United States is higher than in the general population and is an important driver of HIV-related outcomes. We sought to assess if previously identified genetic associations that contribute to substance use are also observed in a population of PWH. We performed genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of alcohol, smoking, and cannabis use phenotypes in a multi-ancestry population of 7,542 PWH from the Center for AIDS Research Network of Integrated Clinical Systems (CNICS). We conducted multi-ancestry GWAS for individuals of African (n = 3,748), Admixed American (n = 1,334), and European (n = 2,460) ancestry. Phenotype data were self-reported and collected using patient reported outcomes (PROs) and three questions from AUDIT-C, an alcohol screening tool. We analyzed nine phenotypes: 1) frequency of alcohol consumption, 2) typical number of drinks on a day when drinking alcohol, 3) frequency of five or more alcoholic drinks in a 30-day period, 4) smoking initiation, 5) smoking cessation, 6) cigarettes per day, 7) cannabis use initiation, 8) cannabis use cessation, 9) frequency of cannabis use during the previous 30 days. For each phenotype we considered a) variants previously identified as associated with a substance use trait and b) novel associations. We observed evidence for effects of previously reported single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related to alcohol (rs1229984, p = 0.001), tobacco (rs11783093, p = 2.22E-4), and cannabis use (rs2875907, p = 0.005). We also report two novel loci (19p13.2, p = 1.3E-8; and 20p11.21, p = 2.1E-8) associated with cannabis use cessation. Our analyses contribute to understanding the genetic bases of substance use in a population with relatively higher rates of use compared to the general population.

Background Accurate prevalence estimates of drug use and its harms are important to characterize burden and develop interventions to reduce negative health outcomes and disparities. Lack of a sampling frame for marginalized/stigmatized populations, including persons who use drugs (PWUD) in rural settings, makes this challenging. Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) is frequently used to recruit PWUD. However, the validity of RDS-generated population-level prevalence estimates relies on assumptions that should be evaluated. Methods RDS was used to recruit PWUD across seven Rural Opioid Initiative studies between 2018-2020. To evaluate RDS assumptions, we computed recruitment homophily and design effects, generated convergence and bottleneck plots, and tested for recruitment and degree differences. We compared sample proportions with three RDS-adjusted estimators (two variations of RDS-I and RDS-II) for five variables of interest (past 30-day use of heroin, fentanyl, and methamphetamine; past 6-month homelessness; and being positive for hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody) using linear regression with robust confidence intervals. We compared regression estimates for the associations between HCV positive antibody status and (a) heroin use, (b) fentanyl use, and (c) age using RDS-1 and RDS-II probability weights and no weights using logistic and modified Poisson regression and random-effects meta-analyses. Results Among 2,842 PWUD, median age was 34 years and 43% were female. Most participants (54%) reported opioids as their drug of choice, however regional differences were present (e.g., methamphetamine range: 4-52%). Many recruitment chains were not long enough to achieve sample equilibrium. Recruitment homophily was present for some variables. Differences with respect to recruitment and degree varied across studies. Prevalence estimates varied only slightly with different RDS weighting approaches, most confidence intervals overlapped. Variations in measures of association varied little based on weighting approach. Conclusions RDS was a useful recruitment tool for PWUD in rural settings. However, several violations of key RDS assumptions were observed which slightly impacts estimation of proportion although not associations.

Describe health of transgender women (TW) with HIV vs. cisgender men and women (CM, CW) in a U.S. HIV care cohort. Data were from Centers for AIDS Research Network of Integrated Clinical Systems (CNICS), 2005–2022. TW were identified using clinical data/identity measures. PWH (n = 1285) were included in analyses (275 TW, 547 CM, 463 CW). Cross-sectional multivariable analyses compared HIV outcomes/co-morbidities between TW/CM and TW/CW, and adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were estimated. TW had poorer adherence (> 90% adherent; aOR 0.57; 95%CI 0.38, 0.87) and were more likely to miss ≥ 3 visits in the past year than CM (aOR 1.50, 95%CI 1.06, 2.10); indicated more anxiety compared to both CM and CW (p ≤ 0.001, p = 0.02); hepatitis C infection (p = 0.03) and past-year/lifetime substance treatment (p = 0.004/p = 0.001) compared to CM; and substance use relative to CW. TW with HIV differed in HIV clinical outcomes and co-morbidities from CM and CW.

There is an increased risk of venous thromboembolism among women taking oral contraceptives. However, whether there is an additional risk among women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is unknown. We developed a population-based cohort from the IMS LifeLink Health Plan Claims Database, which includes managed care organizations in the United States. Women aged 18–46 years taking combined oral contraceptives and who had a claim for PCOS (n = 43 506) were matched, based on a propensity score, to control women (n = 43 506) taking oral contraceptives. Venous thromboembolism was defined using administrative coding and use of anticoagulation. We used Cox proportional hazards models to assess the relative risk (RR) of venous thromboembolism among users of combined oral contraceptives with and without PCOS. The incidence of venous thromboembolism among women with PCOS was 23.7/10 000 person-years, while that for matched controls was 10.9/10 000 person-years. Women with PCOS taking combined oral contraceptives had an RR for venous thromboembolism of 2.14 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.41–3.24) compared with other contraceptive users. The incidence of venous thromboembolism was 6.3/10 000 person-years among women with PCOS not taking oral contraceptives; the incidence was 4.1/10 000 person-years among matched controls. The RR of venous thromboembolism among women with PCOS not taking oral contraceptives was 1.55 (95% CI 1.10–2.19). We found a 2-fold increased risk of venous thromboembolism among women with PCOS who were taking combined oral contraceptives and a 1.5-fold increased risk among women with PCOS not taking oral contraceptives. Physicians should consider the increased risk of venous thromboembolism when prescribing contraceptive therapy to women with PCOS.

Case reports indicate that the use of fluoroquinolones may lead to acute kidney injury. We studied the association between the use of oral fluoroquinolones and acute kidney injury, and we examined interaction with renin–angiotensin-system blockers. We formed a nested cohort of men aged 40–85 enrolled in the United States IMS LifeLink Health Plan Claims Database between 2001 and 2011. We defined cases as men admitted to hospital for acute kidney injury, and controls were admitted to hospital with a different presenting diagnosis. Using risk-set sampling, we matched 10 controls to each case based on hospital admission, calendar time (within 6 wk), cohort entrance (within 6 wk) and age (within 5 yr). We used conditional logistic regression to assess the rate ratio (RR) for acute kidney injury with current, recent and past use of fluoroquinolones, adjusted by potential confounding variables. We repeated this analysis with amoxicillin and azithromycin as controls. We used a case-time–control design for our secondary analysis. We identified 1292 cases and 12 651 matched controls. Current fluoroquinolone use had a 2.18-fold (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.74–2.73) higher adjusted RR of acute kidney injury compared with no use. There was no association between acute kidney injury and recent (adjusted RR 0.87, 95% CI 0.66–1.16) or past (RR 0.86, 95% CI 0.66–1.12) use. The absolute increase in acute kidney injury was 6.5 events per 10 000 person-years. We observed 1 additional case per 1529 patients given fluoroquinolones or per 3287 prescriptions dispensed. The dual use of fluoroquinolones and renin–angiotensin-system blockers had an RR of 4.46 (95% CI 2.84–6.99) for acute kidney injury. Our case-time–control analysis confirmed an increased risk of acute kidney injury with fluoroquinolone use (RR 2.16, 95% CI 1.52–3.18). The use of amoxicillin or azithromycin was not associated with acute kidney injury. We found a small, but significant, increased risk of acute kidney injury among men with the use of oral fluoroquinolones, as well as a significant interaction between the concomitant use of fluoroquinolones and renin–angiotensin-system blockers.