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Inability to access health and social services associated with mental health among people who inject drugs in a Canadian setting.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:People who inject drugs (PWID) face barriers to healthcare due to reasons including comorbidity. We evaluated access to health and social services by three of the most prevalent comorbid conditions among PWID: HIV, hepatitis C (HCV), and mental health, in an urban setting in Canada. METHODS:Data were derived from prospective cohorts of community-recruited PWID between 2005 and 2015. HIV and HCV serostatuses were based on antibody tests, while mental health conditions and inability to access health and social services (barriers to access) were determined by participants' self-report. We employed generalized linear mixed models controlling for confounders to examine associations between health conditions and barriers to access. RESULTS:Among 2494 participants, 1632 (65.4%) reported barriers to access at least once over a median of seven (IQR: 3, 12) semi-annual assessments. Mental health conditions were independently associated with increased odds of reporting barriers (adjusted Odds Ratio (aOR): 1.45, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.32, 1.58), while HIV was not (aOR: 0.96, 95% CI: 0.85, 1.08), and HCV was associated with decreased odds (aOR: 0.80, 95% CI: 0.69, 0.93). The associations between mental health conditions and barriers to access were consistent among PWID without HIV/HCV (aOR: 1.35, 95% CI: 1.10, 1.65), with HCV mono-infection (aOR: 1.55, 95% CI: 1.37, 1.75), and HCV/HIV co-infection (aOR: 1.36, 95% CI: 1.15, 1.60). CONCLUSIONS:Targeted strategies to seek and treat mental health conditions in settings that serve PWID, and assist PWID with mental health conditions in navigating healthcare system may improve the publicly-funded health and social services.

SUBMITTER: Wang L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5086265 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Inability to access health and social services associated with mental health among people who inject drugs in a Canadian setting.

Wang Linwei L Panagiotoglou Dimitra D Min Jeong Eun JE DeBeck Kora K Milloy M J MJ Kerr Thomas T Hayashi Kanna K Nosyk Bohdan B

Drug and alcohol dependence 20160901

<h4>Background</h4>People who inject drugs (PWID) face barriers to healthcare due to reasons including comorbidity. We evaluated access to health and social services by three of the most prevalent comorbid conditions among PWID: HIV, hepatitis C (HCV), and mental health, in an urban setting in Canada.<h4>Methods</h4>Data were derived from prospective cohorts of community-recruited PWID between 2005 and 2015. HIV and HCV serostatuses were based on antibody tests, while mental health conditions an ...[more]

PMID: 27610937

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Project description:IntroductionPeople who inject drugs (PWID) in Sub-Saharan Africa have limited access to comprehensive HIV services. While it is important to inform programming, knowledge about factors influencing access to comprehensive HIV services is scarce. We assessed the proportions of PWID with access to HIV prevention services and associated socio-cognitive factors in Tanzania.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted among PWID between October and December 2017 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Data on access to HIV prevention services, demographics and selected socio-cognitive factors were collected through structured face-to-face interviews. Weighted descriptive and forward selection multivariable logistics regression analyses were done to assess independent associations between HIV prevention services and predictors of interest. The results were two tailed and a p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.ResultsThe study included 611 PWID (males: 94.4%) with a median age of 34 years (Interquartile Range (IQR), 29-38). A large majority of participants reported to have access to condoms (87.8%), sterile needles/syringes (72.8%) and ever tested for HIV (66.0%). About half (52.0%) reported to have used condoms in the past one month and about a third (28.5%) accessed a peer educator. The odds of testing for HIV decreased among participants who perceived their HIV risk to be high (aOR = 0.29; 95%CI: 0.17-0.49) and those experienced sexual violence (aOR = 0.60; 95%CI 0.37-0.98). However, the odds of testing for HIV increased among participants with secondary level of education (aOR = 2.16; 95%CI: 1.06-5.55), and those who reported having correct comprehensive HIV knowledge (CCHK) (aOR = 1.63; 95%CI 1.12-2.41). The odds of access to condoms increased among females (aOR = 2.23; 95%CI: 1.04-5.02) but decreased among participants with secondary level of education (aOR = 0.41; 95%CI: 0.19-0.84), an income of >TZS 200,000 (aOR = 0.39; 95%CI: 0.23-0.66) and those who perceived their HIV risk to be high (aOR = 0.13; 95%CI: 0.03-0.36). The odds of access to peer educators was higher among participants with primary (aOR = 1.61; 95%CI: 1.01-2.26), and secondary (aOR = 2.71; 95%CI: 1.39-5.33) levels of education. The odds of access to sterile needle and syringe decreased among participants who perceived their HIV risk to be high (aOR = 0.11;95%CI 0.05-0.22), and low-medium (aOR = 0.25;95%CI 0.11-0.52) but increased among those with primary level of education (aOR = 1.72;95%CI 1.06-2.78).ConclusionAccess to condom, HIV testing, sterile needles and syringes were relatively high among PWID. However, condom use and access to peer educators was relatively low. HIV knowledge and risk perception, gender, education, and sexual violence influenced access to HIV prevention services. There is an urgent need to address the identified socio-cognitive factors and scale up all aspects of HIV prevention services to fast-track attainment of the 2025 UNAIDS goals and ending the HIV epidemic.

Project description:Background90% of individuals infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) worldwide reside in resource-limited settings. We aimed to characterise the prevalence of HCV, HIV/HCV co-infection, and the HCV care continuum in people who inject drugs in India.Methods14 481 people (including 31 seeds--individuals selected as the starting point for sampling because they were well connected in the drug using community) who inject drugs were sampled from 15 cities throughout India using respondent-driven sampling from Jan 2, 2013 to Dec 19, 2013. Data from seeds were excluded from all analyses. HCV prevalence was estimated by the presence of anti-HCV antibodies incorporating respondent-driven sampling weights. HCV care continuum outcomes were self-reported except for viral clearance in treatment-experienced participants.FindingsThe median age of participants was 30 years (IQR 24-36) and 13 608 (92·4%) of 14 449 were men (data were missing for some variables). Weighted HCV prevalence was 5777 (37·2%) of 14 447; HIV/HCV co-infection prevalence was 2085 (13·2%) of 14 435. Correlates of HCV infection included high lifetime injection frequency, HIV positivity, and a high prevalence of people with HIV RNA (more than 1000 copies per mL) in the community. Of the 5777 people who inject drugs that were HCV antibody positive, 440 (5·5%) were aware of their status, 225 (3·0%) had seen a doctor for their HCV, 79 (1·4%) had taken HCV treatment, and 18 (0·4%) had undetectable HCV RNA. Of 12 128 participants who had not previously been tested for HCV, 6138 (50·5%) did not get tested because they had not heard of HCV. In the 5777 people who were HCV antibody positive, 2086 (34·4%) reported harmful or hazardous alcohol use, of whom 1082 (50·4%) were dependent, and 3821 (65·3%) reported needle sharing. Awareness of HCV positive status was significantly associated with higher education, HIV testing history, awareness of HIV positive status, and higher community antiretroviral therapy coverage.InterpretationThe high burden of HCV and HIV/HCV co-infection coupled with low-access to HCV services emphasises an urgent need to include resource-limited settings in the global HCV agenda. Although new treatments will become available worldwide in the near future, programmes to improve awareness and reduce disease progression and transmission need to be scaled up without further delay. Failure to do so could result in patterns of rising mortality, undermining advances in survival attributed to widespread HIV treatment.FundingUS National Institutes of Health.

Project description:People who inject drugs (PWID) are a population that disproportionately struggles with economic and mental health challenges. However, despite numerous reports of people globally experiencing new or exacerbated economic and/or mental health challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, the literature on the effect of the pandemic on PWID and their risk for harm (e.g., overdose) remains sparse. The present study will describe reported changes during the pandemic in risk factors for drug overdose (including changes in mental health symptoms and care access) among PWID in Chicago, and it will examine associations between such risk factor changes and the experience of economic challenges during the pandemic. Participants from an ongoing longitudinal study of young PWID from the Chicago suburbs and their injection risk network members (N = 138; mean age = 28.7 years) were interviewed about changes in their experiences, substance use behavior, and mental health since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bivariate cross tabulations were computed of each "overdose risk factor" with experiences of economic challenges during the pandemic. Fisher's Exact Tests were used to assess statistical significance. Adjusted logistic regression models were also conducted that controlled for sociodemographic characteristics, for time elapsed since the start of the pandemic, and for pre-pandemic income, homelessness, and injection frequency. Over half of our sample reported using alone more than usual during the pandemic, and over 40% reported using more than usual and/or buying drugs that were of a decreased purity or quality. Additionally, a large proportion of our sample (52.5% of those asked) reported more difficulty than usual accessing mental health care. Experiencing loss of a source of income during the pandemic was associated with using more drugs, using alone more, using a larger amount of drugs while using alone, wanting to stop using but being unable, and difficulty accessing mental health care. The preliminary associations found by the present study suggest that economic challenges or disruptions experienced during the pandemic are likely to increase risk for overdose among PWID experiencing such challenges, via changes in the above behaviors and/or conditions that are associated with risk for overdose. Intervention efforts should therefore be focused not only directly on overdose prevention, but also on assisting PWID with their economic challenges and helping them regain economic stability and access to services that may have been impeded by financial difficulty.

Dataset Information

Inability to access health and social services associated with mental health among people who inject drugs in a Canadian setting.

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Inability to access health and social services associated with mental health among people who inject drugs in a Canadian setting.

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