Screening for and prevalence of HIV and Hepatitis C among an outpatient urban sample of people with serious mental illness and co-occurring substance abuse
✍ Scribed by Seth Himelhoch; Richard Goldberg; Christine Calmes; Deborah Medoff; Eric Slade,; Lisa Dixon; Gerard Gallucci; Stanley Rosenberg
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2011
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 93 KB
- Volume
- 39
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0090-4392
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✦ Synopsis
Abstract
Background: To assess rates of screening and testing of HIV and HCV among those with serious mental illness and co‐occurring substance use disorders.
Methods: One hundred fifty‐three people with serious mental illness and co‐occurring substance use disorders completed measures and were screened for HIV and HCV.
Results: Six percent were HIV positive and 25% were HCV positive. Almost a quarter reported a history of injection drug use and 86% reported a history of unprotected sexual encounters. Compared to those without a diagnosis of Hepatitis C, those diagnosed with Hepatitis C were significantly more likely to have a sexually transmitted infection, (p=0.01), have a lifetime history of injection drug use, (p<0.001), and a lifetime history of sniffing drugs, (p=0.01).
Conclusions: Given the high levels of infection of HIV and HCV and high levels of transmission risk factors efforts to improve screening and provide risk reduction counseling are warranted. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.