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. 2018 Apr;25(4):143-146.

Opioids and HIV Infection: From Pain Management to Addiction Treatment

Chinazo O Cunningham  1
Affiliations

Opioids and HIV Infection: From Pain Management to Addiction Treatment

Chinazo O Cunningham. Top Antivir Med. 2018 Apr.

Abstract

HIV-infected persons are more likely to have chronic pain, receive opioid analgesic treatment, receive higher doses of opioids, and to have substance use disorders and mental illness compared with the general population, putting them at increased risk for opioid use disorder. Management of opioid use in HIV-infected individuals can be complex, and the limited data on opioid treatment in this population are conflicting with regard to its effect on HIV outcomes. Buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder improves HIV outcomes and other outcomes. This article summarizes a presentation by Chinazo O. Cunningham, MD, MS at the IAS-USA continuing education program, Improving the Management of HIV Disease, held in Atlanta, Georgia, in March 2017.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Overdose deaths involving opioids in the United States, 2000 to 2015. Adapted from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Conceptual representation of the opioid effects and log doses of the full opioid agonist methadone, the partial opioid agonist buprenorphine, and the opioid antagonist naloxone. Adapted from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
HIV outcomes are improved with retention on buprenorphine treatment (P ≤ .05 for all comparisons with baseline). Adapted from Altice et al.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Drug treatment outcomes are improved with retention on buprenorphine treatment. Adapted from Fiellin et al.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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