Category Archives: People who use drugs
Prevalence of HIV, hepatitis B and C virus co-infections among Iranian high-risk groups: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Co-infection with hepatitis B and C among HIV infected patients are prevalent among high-risk populations. This meta-analysis aimed to estimate the prevalence of HIV, HCV and HBV co-infections among high-risk...
Suboptimal HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis awareness and willingness to use among women who use drugs in the United States: A systematic review and meta-analysis
In the United States (U.S.), more than 12 million women reported illicit drug use in the past month. Drug use has been linked to increased risk for HIV, but little...
How does hard-to-reach status affect antiretroviral therapy adherence in the HIV-infected population? Results from a meta-analysis of observational studies
BACKGROUND: Socially disadvantaged groups, such as drug users, sex workers and homeless individuals, are labelled as “hard-to-reach” (HTR) in public health and medical research. HIV disproportionately impacts these populations, but...
Prevalence of HIV, HCV and HBV infection and sociodemographic characteristics of people who inject drugs in China: A systematic review and meta-analysis
BACKGROUND: Globally, China is the largest country by population and contributes substantially to the burden of people who inject drugs (PWID). The aims of this study were to estimate the...
Integrated care of severe infectious diseases to people with substance use disorders; a systematic review
BACKGROUND: Various integrated care models have been used to improve treatment completion of medications for chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV), chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV), Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB), and Human...
Substance use screening in HIV care settings: A review and critique of the literature
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: People living with human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS (PLWHA) experience high prevalence of substance use disorders (SUD). HIV care settings represent a unique opportunity to identify possible SUD, to...
A cross-jurisdictional review of HIV testing intervals for population groups at high risk of HIV infection
Key take-home messages Most guidelines recommend at least annual HIV testing of population groups at high risk of HIV infection. These include: men who have sex with men, transgender women...
A meta-analysis of the association between needle exchange programs and HIV seroconversion among injection drug users
We assessed the association between different levels of needle exchange program (NEP) use and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seroconversion in the injecting drug user (IDU) population using meta-analysis to aggregate...
A systematic review of adherence to oral pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV — How can we improve uptake and adherence?
INTRODUCTION: Oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an effective strategy to reduce the risk of HIV transmission in high risk individuals. However, the effectiveness of oral pre-exposure prophylaxis is highly dependent...
Cost-effectiveness of HIV screening in high-income countries: A systematic review
INTRODUCTION: Over 2 million people in high-income countries live with HIV. Early diagnosis and treatment present benefits for infected subjects and reduce secondary transmissions. Cost-effectiveness analyses are important to effectively...
