Healthcare Utilization Among Persons with HIV and Unhealthy Alcohol Use in St. Petersburg, Russia

This study analyzed the association between unhealthy alcohol use (defined as AUDIT score  ≥ 8) and healthcare utilization among PWH with heavy alcohol use and daily smoking in St. Petersburg, Russia. This secondary analysis used data from a randomized controlled trial addressing alcohol use. The primary outcome was seeing an infectionist for HIV care in the past year. Outcomes wer e measured at baseline, 6 months, and 12 months. We assessed the association between unhealthy alcohol use and healthcare utilization outcomes with a repeated measures logistic regression model, controlling for relevant covariates. Nearly all (96.0%) participants had unhealthy alcohol use at basel ine, and 90.0% had seen an infectionist for HIV care in the past year. In adjusted analyses, unhealthy alcohol use was associated with a 36% decrease in seeing an infectionist for HIV care (aOR = 0.64, 95% CI 0.43–0.95). Participants reported low levels of emergency department visits and hospi talizations. Understanding how to engage this population in alcohol use disorder treatment and HIV care is an important next step for improving health outcomes for this population.
Source: AIDS and Behavior - Category: Infectious Diseases Source Type: research