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. 2019 Mar;23(3):609-616.
doi: 10.1007/s10461-018-2318-8.

Depressive Symptoms at HIV Testing and Two-Year All-Cause Mortality Among Men Who Inject Drugs in Vietnam

Sara N Levintow  1 , Brian W Pence  2 , Tran Viet Ha  3 , Nguyen Le Minh  4 , Teerada Sripaipan  3 , Carl A Latkin  5 , Pham The Vu  4 , Vu Minh Quan  6 , Constantine Frangakis  7 , Vivian F Go  3
Affiliations

Depressive Symptoms at HIV Testing and Two-Year All-Cause Mortality Among Men Who Inject Drugs in Vietnam

Sara N Levintow et al. AIDS Behav. 2019 Mar.

Abstract

People who inject drugs (PWID) with HIV experience an elevated risk of death. A potentially important determinant of survival is the high burden of depression. This study examined the relationship of depressive symptoms at HIV testing with 2-year all-cause mortality among newly diagnosed HIV-positive PWID in Vietnam. At HIV testing, 141 PWID (42%) experienced severe depressive symptoms, and over the 2 years following diagnosis, 82 PWID (24%) died. Controlling for potential confounders, the 2-year risk of death among those with depressive symptoms was 9.7% (95% CI - 1.2, 20.6%) higher than the risk among those without depressive symptoms. This increased risk of mortality for PWID with depressive symptoms was relatively consistent throughout the 2-year period: at 6, 12, and 18 months, the risk difference was 12.6% (5.5-19.7%), 13.9% (4.6-23.2%), and 11.0% (0.9-21.1%), respectively. HIV diagnosis may provide an important opportunity for depression screening and treatment, subsequently improving survival in this key population.Trial registry: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01689545.

Keywords: Depression; HIV; Injection drug use; Mortality; Vietnam.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: None.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Weighted cumulative risk of death (with 95% CI) by baseline depression (at HIV testing) at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months after HIV diagnosis for 336 PWID in Vietnam.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Crude and weighted cumulative RDs (with 95% CI) for mortality at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months after HIV diagnosis, comparing PWID with and without depressive symptoms at HIV testing.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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