Clinical Manifestations and Predictors of Disease Progression in Drug Users with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection

Abstract

HIV-infected injection-drug users have progression to AIDS at rates comparable to those of other HIV-infected groups, but they have substantial pre-AIDS morbidity and mortality, particularly from bacterial infections, which also appear to predict disease progression.

Illness burden mediates the relationship between pain and illicit drug use in persons living with HIV

“…HIV patients with a history of drug use may suffer from additional health problems [e.g., bacterial infections (Selwyn et al 1992)] and adverse events (e.g., homelessness) which may then lead to poor health outcomes and increased pain (Riley et al 2003). The presence of drug use may exacerbate pain due to inadequate attention to preventive care.…”

Comparison of effects of isoniazid plus ART and ART only regimen on the incidence of tuberculosis and HIV progression in HIV positive patients: a retrospective cohort study at two hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

“…Consistent to this study, a France study has shown an increased risk of HIV progression to AIDS in older HIV patients on ART compared to younger patients because of slower reconstitution of CD4 cells in older patients. 27 This is an opposite finding to a New York study that demonstrated age as a non-predictor of HIV progression to AIDS. 28 However, about two-thirds of patients in this cohort were in the age between 30 to 49 years, accommodating more number of patients with disease progressed to AIDS, compared to older and younger patients.…”

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“…This indicates that back-calculation may indeed seriously underestimate the total size of the HIV epidemic among IDU by neither including past pre-AIDS deaths, nor prevalently infected IDU who will die pre-AIDS in the future [5,18]. Because IDU who die pre-AIDS may still demand extra care for HIVrelated disorders [19] and are likely to contribute to further transmission of HIV before death, they are important from the perspective of health care planning and for the study of transmission dynamics. Hence, they should be included in HIV incidence and prevalence estimates that are to be used for such purposes.…”