Category Archives: Nonmedicinal drugs
Methodologies used in studies examining substance abuse, violence and HIV/AIDS (SAVA) constructs using a syndemic framework: A scoping review
The syndemic theoretical framework has been used in health disparities research to explain several co-occurring epidemics, particularly in populations facing disparate health conditions. A prominent example of this is seen...
Neurocognitive impairment and associated factors among people living with HIV: A systematic review and meta-analysis of African studies
BACKGROUND: Neurocognitive impairment (NCI) is one of the most common neurological complications in HIV-positive individuals, particularly in resource-limited countries. Neurocognitive impairments can occur at any stage of HIV infection, although...
Epidemiology of injecting drug use, prevalence of injecting-related harm, and exposure to behavioural and environmental risks among people who inject drugs: A systematic review
Background People who inject drugs are exposed to various and changing risk environments and are at risk of multiple harms related to injecting drug use (IDU). We aimed to undertake...
The impact of needle and syringe exchange programs on HIV-related risk behaviors in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis examining individual- versus community-level effects
We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the impact of needle and syringe exchange programs (NSP) on both individual- and community-level needle-sharing behaviors and other HIV-related outcomes in low-...
The state of the research on opioid outcomes among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other sexuality- and gender-diverse populations: A scoping review
Purpose: Research on opioid misuse, opioid use disorder (OUD), and overdose (i.e., opioid outcomes) among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and other populations within the LGBTQ umbrella (LGBTQ+) remains sparse. The...
Substance use and adherence to HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis in studies enrolling men who have sex with men and transgender women: A systematic review
Optimal adherence to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is critical, but challenging. Men who have sex with men and transgender women have high rates of HIV incidence and substance use. Substance use...
The impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on service delivery and treatment outcomes in people living with HIV: A systematic review
INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 epidemic and various control and mitigation measures to combat the widespread outbreak of the disease may affect other parts of health care systems. There is a concern...
Suicidality among people living with HIV from 2010 to 2021: A systematic review and a meta-regression
OBJECTIVE: The association between human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS and suicidality is not well understood, partly because of variability in results. This meta-analysis aimed to investigate the predictive value of HIV/acquired...
A systematic review of risk factors and consequences of nyaope usage: The illicit street drug containing HIV antiretrovirals
South Africa currently has the highest number of cases of HIV in the world. HIV antiretrovirals (ARVs) are publicly available across the country to address this crisis. However, a consequence...
HIV prevalence among non-injecting people who use drugs and related factors in Iran: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Issues: This systematic review aimed to provide an updated estimate on the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection among non-injecting people who use drugs (PWUD) and the various subgroups and...
Mental health symptoms associated with sexualized drug use (chemsex) among men who have sex with men: A systematic review
BACKGROUND: Sexualized drug use (SDU), also known as chemsex, refers to the use of psychoactive substances for sexual purposes among men who have sex with men (MSM), which has been...
