Search

Background: Little is known about how best to reach people with social marketing messages promoting use of clinical HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) services., Objective: We evaluated a multiplatform, digital social marketing campaign intended to increase use of HIV/STI testing, treatment, and prevention services among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) at an LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and/or questioning) community health center., Methods: We evaluated engagement with a social marketing campaign launched by Open Door Health, the only LGBTQ+ community health center in Rhode Island, during the first 8 months of implementation (April to November 2021). Three types of advertisements encouraging use of HIV/STI services were developed and implemented on Google Search, Google Display, Grindr, and Facebook. Platforms tracked the number of times that an advertisement was displayed to a user (impressions), that a user clicked through to a landing page that facilitated scheduling (clicks), and that a user requested a call to schedule an appointment from the landing page (conversions). We calculated the click-through rate (clicks per impression), conversion rate (conversions per click), and the dollar amount spent per 1000 impressions and per click and conversion., Results: Overall, Google Search yielded the highest click-through rate (7.1%) and conversion rate (7.0%) compared to Google Display, Grindr, and Facebook (click-through rates=0.4%-3.3%; conversion rates=0%-0.03%). Although the spend per 1000 impressions and per click was higher for Google Search compared to other platforms, the spend per conversion-which measures the number of people intending to attend the clinic for services-was substantially lower for Google Search (US $48.19 vs US $3120.42-US $3436.03)., Conclusions: Campaigns using the Google Search platform may yield the greatest return on investment for engaging MSM in HIV/STI services at community health clinics. Future studies are needed to measure clinical outcomes among those who present to the clinic for services after viewing campaign advertisements and to compare the return on investment with use of social marketing campaigns relative to other approaches., (© Laura C Chambers, Yelena Malyuta, William C Goedel, Philip A Chan, Cassandra Sutten Coats, Ken Allen, Amy S Nunn. Originally published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (https://publichealth.jmir.org).)

Importance: Clinicians are a key component of preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) care. Yet, no prior studies have quantitatively investigated how PrEP adherence differs by clinician specialty., Objective: To understand the association between prescribing clinician specialty and patients not picking up (reversal/abandonment) their initial PrEP prescription., Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional study of patients who were 18 years or older used pharmacy claims data from 2015 to 2019 on new insurer-approved PrEP prescriptions that were matched with clinician data from the US National Plan and Provider Enumeration System. Data were analyzed from January to May 2022., Main Outcomes and Measures: Clinician specialties included primary care practitioners (PCPs), infectious disease (ID), or other specialties. Reversal was defined as a patient not picking up their insurer-approved initial PrEP prescription. Abandonment was defined as a patient who reversed and still did not pick their prescription within 365 days., Results: Of the 37 003 patients, 4439 (12%) were female and 32 564 (88%) were male, and 77% were aged 25 to 54 years. A total of 24 604 (67%) received prescriptions from PCPs, 3571 (10%) from ID specialists, and 8828 (24%) from other specialty clinicians. The prevalence of reversals for patients of PCPs, ID specialists, and other specialty clinicians was 18%, 18%, and 25%, respectively, and for abandonments was 12%, 12%, and 20%, respectively. After adjusting for confounding, logistic regression models showed that, compared with patients who were prescribed PrEP by a PCP, patients prescribed PrEP by ID specialists had 10% lower odds of reversals (odds ratio [OR], 0.90; 95% CI, 0.81-0.99) and 12% lower odds of abandonment (OR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.78-0.98), while patients prescribed by other clinicians had 33% higher odds of reversals (OR, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.25-1.41) and 54% higher odds of abandonment (OR, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.44-1.65)., Conclusion: The results of this cross-sectional study suggest that PCPs do most of the new PrEP prescribing and are a critical entry point for patients. PrEP adherence differs by clinician specialties, likely due to the populations served by them. Future studies to test interventions that provide adherence support and education are needed.

Background: Delays in hospital presentation limit access to acute stroke treatments. While prior research has focused on patient-level factors, broader ecological and social determinants have not been well studied. We aimed to create a geospatial map of prehospital delay and examine the role of community-level social vulnerability., Methods: We studied patients with ischemic stroke who arrived by emergency medical services in 2015 to 2017 from the American Heart Association Get With The Guidelines-Stroke registry. The primary outcome was time to hospital arrival after stroke (in minutes), beginning at last known well in most cases. Using Geographic Information System mapping, we displayed the geography of delay. We then used Cox proportional hazard models to study the relationship between community-level factors and arrival time (adjusted hazard ratios [aHR] <1.0 indicate delay). The primary exposure was the social vulnerability index (SVI), a metric of social vulnerability for every ZIP Code Tabulation Area ranging from 0.0 to 1.0., Results: Of 750 336 patients, 149 145 met inclusion criteria. The mean age was 73 years, and 51% were female. The median time to hospital arrival was 140 minutes (Q1: 60 minutes, Q3: 458 minutes). The geospatial map revealed that many zones of delay overlapped with socially vulnerable areas (https://harvard-cga.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=08f6e885c71b457f83cefc71013bcaa7). Cox models (aHR, 95% CI) confirmed that higher SVI, including quartiles 3 (aHR, 0.96 [95% CI, 0.93-0.98]) and 4 (aHR, 0.93 [95% CI, 0.91-0.95]), was associated with delay. Patients from SVI quartile 4 neighborhoods arrived 15.6 minutes [15-16.2] slower than patients from SVI quartile 1. Specific SVI themes associated with delay were a community's socioeconomic status (aHR, 0.80 [95% CI, 0.74-0.85]) and housing type and transportation (aHR, 0.89 [95% CI, 0.84-0.94])., Conclusions: This map of acute stroke presentation times shows areas with a high incidence of delay. Increased social vulnerability characterizes these areas. Such places should be systematically targeted to improve population-level stroke presentation times., Competing Interests: Disclosures Dr Dhand is Co-Founder and has stock options in ECHAS (Emergency Call for Heart Attack and Stroke). He is also a consultant for Availity and participates in expert witness activities. Dr Bergmark a consultant for Analysis Group and received grant funding from I-Mab Biopharma, and reports grants from Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr Fonarow is a consultant for Abbott Pharmaceuticals, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cytokinetics, Eli Lilly and Company, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Medtronic, Merck, Novartis, and Pfizer. Dr Saver is a consultant for Abbott Laboratories, Aeromics, Biogen, Boehringer Ingelheim, BrainQ, BrainGate, CSL Behring, Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems Inc, Medtronic, MindRhythm, Neuronics Medical, Rapid Medical, Roche, and Stream Medical. He is on the data and safety monitoring board for MIVI Neuroscience. Dr Schwamm is a consultant for Genentech and Medtronic. Dr Sheth is President for Advanced Innovation in Medicine. He has stock options in BrainQ and receives grant support from BARD and Hyperfine. He is a consultant for Astrocyte, Cerevasc, CSL Behring, and Rhaeos. He is on the data and safety monitoring board for Sense. He reports a patent pending for Stroke wearables licensed to Alva Health

Black sexually minoritized men (SMM) and transgender women (TW) are subgroups with lower rates of substance use and comparable rates of condom use relative to White SMM and TW yet experience heightened vulnerability to HIV. This study sought to explore associations of substance use, including sex-drug use (i.e., drug or alcohol use during sex to enhance sex), and condomless sex among Black SMM and TW. Data were collected from Black SMM and TW living in Chicago, Illinois, enrolled in the Neighborhoods and Networks (N2) cohort study, from November 2018 to April 2019. We used bivariate analyses followed by a multilevel egocentric network analysis to identify factors associated with condomless sex. We conducted Spearman correlation coefficients to examine correlations between pairs of sex-drugs to enhance sex. We used a bipartite network analysis to identify correlates of sex-drug use and condomless sex. A total of 352 Black SMM and TW (egos) provided information about 933 sexual partners (alters). Of respondents, 45% reported condomless sex and 61% reported sex-drug use. In unadjusted analyses, marijuana (34%) and cocaine/crack (5%) sex-drug use were associated with condomless sex (p < 0.05). Condomless sex was positively associated with sex-polydrug use, or the use of 2+ drugs or 1 drug and alcohol (OR = 1.48; 95% CI: 1.02-2.14; p = 0.039), and negatively associated with sharing an HIV-negative serostatus with a sexual partner (OR = 0.57; 95% CI: 0.33-0.98; p = 0.041), having a different HIV serostatus with a sexual partner (OR = 0.37; 95% CI: 0.21-0.64; p < 0.001) or not knowing the HIV serostatus of a sexual partner (OR = 0.47; 95% CI: 0.26-0.84; p = 0.011). The following pairs of sex-polydrug use had Spearman correlation coefficients higher than 0.3: marijuana and alcohol, ecstasy and alcohol, cocaine/crack and ecstasy, and methamphetamine and poppers (p < 0.05). HIV prevention interventions for Black SMM and TW designed to reduce HIV transmission through egocentric sexual networks could address sex-drug use through sex-positive and pleasure-centered harm reduction strategies and provide and promote biomedical prevention and care options at supraoptimal levels., (© 2024. Society for Prevention Research.)

Uptake and retention in clinical care for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is suboptimal, particularly among young African American men who have sex with men (MSM) in the Deep South. We conducted a two-phase study to develop and implement an intervention to increase PrEP persistence. In Phase I, we conducted focus groups with 27 young African American MSM taking PrEP at a community health center in Jackson, Mississippi to elicit recommendations for the PrEP persistence intervention. We developed an intervention based on recommendations in Phase I, and in Phase II, ten participants were enrolled in an open pilot. Eight participants completed Phase II study activities, including a single intervention session, phone call check-ins, and four assessments (Months 0, 1, 3, and 6). Exit interviews demonstrated a high level of acceptability and satisfaction with the intervention. These formative data demonstrate the initial promise of a novel intervention to improve PrEP persistence among young African American MSM.

Objective: In the United States, one in five newly insurer-approved pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) prescriptions are reversed with over 70% of those reversed, being abandoned. Given the Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) initiative's goals, we assessed geographic variations of PrEP reversal and abandonment across EHE and non-EHE counties in the United States., Design: This was a cross-sectional analysis of secondary data., Methods: Data were collected from Symphony Analytics for adults 18 years and older, with a newly prescribed PrEP claim. Using the proportion of PrEP prescriptions by county, hotspot analysis was conducted utilizing Getis Ord Gi∗ statistics stratified by EHE and non EHE counties. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with residing in hotspots of PrEP reversal or PrEP abandonments., Results: Across 516 counties representing 36,204 patients, the overall PrEP reversal rate was 19.4%, whereas the PrEP abandonment rate was 13.7%. Reversals and abandonments were higher for non-EHE (22.7 and 17.1%) than EHE (15.6 and 10.5%) counties. In both EHE and non-EHE counties, younger age, less education, females, and an out-of-pocket cost of greater than $100, were significantly associated with greater likelihood of residing in hotspots of PrEP reversal or abandonment, while Hispanics, Medicaid recipients, and an out-of-pocket cost of $10 or less had lower likelihood of residing in hotspots of reversal and abandonment., Conclusion: Findings indicate the need for implementation of focused interventions to address disparities observed in PrEP reversal and abandonment. Moreover, to improve primary PrEP adherence, national PrEP access programs should streamline and improve PrEP accessibility across different geographic jurisdictions., (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Examine differences in neighborhood characteristics and services between overdose hotspot and non-hotspot neighborhoods and identify neighborhood-level population factors associated with increased overdose incidence., Methods: We conducted a population-based retrospective analysis of Rhode Island, USA residents who had a fatal or non-fatal overdose from 2016 to 2020 using an environmental scan and data from Rhode Island emergency medical services, State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System, and the American Community Survey. We conducted a spatial scan via SaTScan to identify non-fatal and fatal overdose hotspots and compared the characteristics of hotspot and non-hotspot neighborhoods. We identified associations between census block group-level characteristics using a Besag-York-Mollié model specification with a conditional autoregressive spatial random effect., Results: We identified 7 non-fatal and 3 fatal overdose hotspots in Rhode Island during the study period. Hotspot neighborhoods had higher proportions of Black and Latino/a residents, renter-occupied housing, vacant housing, unemployment, and cost-burdened households. A higher proportion of hotspot neighborhoods had a religious organization, a health center, or a police station. Non-fatal overdose risk increased in a dose responsive manner with increasing proportions of residents living in poverty. There was increased relative risk of non-fatal and fatal overdoses in neighborhoods with crowded housing above the mean (RR 1.19 [95 % CI 1.05, 1.34]; RR 1.21 [95 % CI 1.18, 1.38], respectively)., Conclusion: Neighborhoods with increased prevalence of housing instability and poverty are at highest risk of overdose. The high availability of social services in overdose hotspots presents an opportunity to work with established organizations to prevent overdose deaths., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Drug overdose persists as a leading cause of death in the United States, but resources to address it remain limited. As a result, health authorities must consider where to allocate scarce resources within their jurisdictions. Machine learning offers a strategy to identify areas with increased future overdose risk to proactively allocate overdose prevention resources. This modeling study is embedded in a randomized trial to measure the effect of proactive resource allocation on statewide overdose rates in Rhode Island (RI)., Methods: We used statewide data from RI from 2016 to 2020 to develop an ensemble machine learning model predicting neighborhood-level fatal overdose risk. Our ensemble model integrated gradient boosting machine and super learner base models in a moving window framework to make predictions in 6-month intervals. Our performance target, developed a priori with the RI Department of Health, was to identify the 20% of RI neighborhoods containing at least 40% of statewide overdose deaths, including at least one neighborhood per municipality. The model was validated after trial launch., Results: Our model selected priority neighborhoods capturing 40.2% of statewide overdose deaths during the test periods and 44.1% of statewide overdose deaths during validation periods. Our ensemble outperformed the base models during the test periods and performed comparably to the best-performing base model during the validation periods., Conclusions: We demonstrated the capacity for machine learning models to predict neighborhood-level fatal overdose risk to a degree of accuracy suitable for practitioners. Jurisdictions may consider predictive modeling as a tool to guide allocation of scarce resources., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

As the field of public health rises to the demands of real-time surveillance and rapid data-sharing needs in a postpandemic world, it is time to examine our approaches to the dissemination and accessibility of such data. Distinct challenges exist when working to develop a shared public health language and narratives based on data. It requires that we assess our understanding of public health data literacy, revisit our approach to communication and engagement, and continuously evaluate our impact and relevance. Key stakeholders and cocreators are critical to this process and include people with lived experience, community organizations, governmental partners, and research institutions. In this viewpoint paper, we offer an instructive approach to the tools we used, assessed, and adapted across 3 unique overdose data dashboard projects in Rhode Island, United States. We are calling this model the "Rhode Island Approach to Public Health Data Literacy, Partnerships, and Action." This approach reflects the iterative lessons learned about the improvement of data dashboards through collaboration and strong partnerships across community members, state agencies, and an academic research team. We will highlight key tools and approaches that are accessible and engaging and allow developers and stakeholders to self-assess their goals for their data dashboards and evaluate engagement with these tools by their desired audiences and users., (©Jesse Yedinak, Maxwell S Krieger, Raynald Joseph, Stacey Levin, Sarah Edwards, Dennis A Bailer, Jonathan Goyer, Colleen Daley Ndoye, Cathy Schultz, Jennifer Koziol, Rachael Elmaleh, Benjamin D Hallowell, Todd Hampson, Ellen Duong, Abdullah Shihipar, William C Goedel, Brandon DL Marshall. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 12.02.2024.)

Oral HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is highly effective for preventing HIV. Several different developments in the US either threaten to increase or promise to decrease PrEP out-of-pocket costs and access in the coming years. In a sample of 58,529 people with a new insurer-approved PrEP prescription, we estimated risk-adjusted percentages of patients who abandoned (did not fill) their initial prescription across six out-of-pocket cost categories. We then simulated the percentage of patients who would abandon PrEP under hypothetical changes to out-of-pocket costs, ranging from $0 to more than $500. PrEP abandonment rates of 5.5 percent at $0 rose to 42.6 percent at more than $500; even a small increase from $0 to $10 doubled the rate of abandonment. Conversely, abandonment rates that were 48.0 percent with out-of-pocket costs of more than $500 dropped to 7.3 percent when those costs were cut to $0. HIV diagnoses were two to three times higher among patients who abandoned PrEP prescriptions than among those who filled them. These results imply that recent legal challenges to the provision of PrEP with no cost sharing could substantially increase PrEP abandonment and HIV rates, upending progress on the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Background: The US Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) initiative aims to reduce national HIV incidence 90% by 2030 and to address the disproportionate burden of HIV among different racial/ethnic populations. Florida's state-wide 2022-2026 Integrated HIV Prevention and Care Plan outlines objectives for reaching EHE goals. In Miami-Dade County, we determined the epidemiological impact of achieving the integrated plan's objectives individually and jointly., Methods: We adapted an HIV transmission model calibrated to Miami-Dade County adjusting access to HIV testing, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and antiretroviral treatment to model the effects of each objective between 2022 and 2030. We compared two service scale-up approaches: (a) scale-up proportionally to existing racial/ethnic group access levels, and (b) scale-up according to new diagnoses across racial/ethnic groups (equity-oriented). We estimated reductions in new HIV infections by each objective and approach, compared to the EHE's incidence reduction target., Findings: The single most influential strategy was reducing new HIV diagnoses in Hispanic/Latinx men who have sex with men through increased PrEP uptake, resulting in 907/2444 (37.1%) fewer annual new HIV infections in 2030. Achieving all objectives jointly would result in 1537/2444 (62.9%) and 1553/2444 (63.5%) fewer annual new HIV infections with the proportional and equity-oriented approaches, respectively., Interpretation: Achieving the goals of Florida's integrated care plan would significantly reduce HIV incidence in Miami-Dade County; however, further efforts are required to achieve EHE targets. Structural changes in service delivery and a focus on effective implementation of available interventions to address racial/ethnic disparities will be crucial to ending the HIV epidemic., Funding: This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Drug Abuse grant no. R01-DA041747., Competing Interests: XZ reports subaward funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA041747) as Co-Investigator. DJF reports consultant payments from R01DA041747. PSS reports grant funding from NIH, CDC, Gilead Sciences, Merck and Viiv Healthcare. BN reports NIDA R01DA041747 funding paid to institution as Principal Investigator. HET reports grant funding from Gilead Sciences and Viiv Healthcare, participation in Data Safety Monitoring Board/Advisory Board for 4UH3DA047720-03, and leadership or fiduciary roles involving HIVMA, PACHA, SAFE project and Florida Harm Reduction Collection., (© 2023 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Prior applications of machine learning to population health have relied on conventional model assessment criteria, limiting the utility of models as decision support tools for public health practitioners. To facilitate practitioners' use of machine learning as a decision support tool for area-level intervention, we developed and applied 4 practice-based predictive model evaluation criteria (implementation capacity, preventive potential, health equity, and jurisdictional practicalities). We used a case study of overdose prevention in Rhode Island to illustrate how these criteria could inform public health practice and health equity promotion. We used Rhode Island overdose mortality records from January 2016-June 2020 (n = 1,408) and neighborhood-level US Census data. We employed 2 disparate machine learning models, Gaussian process and random forest, to illustrate the comparative utility of our criteria to guide interventions. Our models predicted 7.5%-36.4% of overdose deaths during the test period, illustrating the preventive potential of overdose interventions assuming 5%-20% statewide implementation capacities for neighborhood-level resource deployment. We describe the health equity implications of use of predictive modeling to guide interventions along the lines of urbanicity, racial/ethnic composition, and poverty. We then discuss considerations to complement predictive model evaluation criteria and inform the prevention and mitigation of spatially dynamic public health problems across the breadth of practice. This article is part of a Special Collection on Mental Health., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Individual-level behavior can be influenced by injunctive and descriptive social network norms surrounding that behavior. There is a need to understand how the influence of social norms within an individual's social networks may influence individual-level sexual behavior. We aimed to typologize the network-level norms of sexual behaviors within the social networks of Black sexual and gender minoritized groups (SGM) assigned male at birth. Survey data were collected in Chicago, Illinois, USA, between 2018 and 2019 from Black SGM. A total of 371 participants provided individual-level information about sociodemographic characteristics and HIV vulnerability from sex (i.e., condomless sex, group sex, use of alcohol/drugs to enhance sex) and completed an egocentric network inventory assessing perceptions of their social network members' (alters') injunctive and descriptive norms surrounding sexual behaviors with increased HIV vulnerability. We used Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) to identify network-level norms based on the proportion of alters' approval of the participant engaging in condomless sex, group sex, and use of drugs to enhance sex (i.e., injunctive norms) and alters' engagement in these behaviors (i.e., descriptive norms). We then used binomial regression analyses to examine associations between network-level norm profiles and individual-level HIV vulnerability from sex. The results of our LPA indicated that our sample experienced five distinct latent profiles of network-level norms: (1) low HIV vulnerability network norm, (2) moderately high HIV vulnerability network norm, (3) high HIV vulnerability network norm, (4) condomless sex dominant network norm, and (5) approval of drug use during sex dominant network norm. Condomless anal sex, group sex, and using drugs to enhance sex were positively and significantly associated with higher HIV vulnerability social network norm profiles, relative to low HIV vulnerability norm profiles. To mitigate Black SGM's HIV vulnerability, future HIV risk reduction strategies can consider using network-level intervention approaches such as opinion leaders, segmentation, induction, or alteration, through an intersectionality framework., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Black sexual minority men (SMM) in the Deep South are heavily impacted by HIV; yet studies fail to consider discordance across aspects of sexual orientation (i.e., identity, attraction, behavior) or how a lack of concordance enhances vulnerability to HIV. We sought to explore the overlap across aspects of sexual orientation and examine associations between each aspect and the number of sexual partners who engaged in HIV vulnerability-enhancing behaviors, and HIV prevention and care outcomes. A total of 204 Black SMM completed surveys, reporting their sexual identity, attraction, and behavior (i.e., sex with men only vs. sex with men and women), number of condomless sex or transactional sex (e.g., buyers vs. sellers) partners in the past 6 months, and adherence to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) or antiretroviral therapy (ART) among users. Less than one in four participants (22.5%) reported overlap in same-sex sexual orientations, while 17.1% of bisexual men reported overlap across aspects. In multivariable models, differences were found in how aspects of sexual orientation were associated with the number of partners who bought or sold sex; as well as how often participants tested for HIV in the past 12 months. Results suggest different aspects of sexual orientation have implications for addressing HIV among Black SMM in the Deep South., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

The association between recent release from incarceration and dramatically increased risk of fatal overdose is well-established at the individual level. Fatal overdose and. arrest/release are spatially clustered, suggesting that this association may persist at the neighborhood level. We analyzed multicomponent data from Rhode Island, 2016-2020, and observed a modest association at the census tract level between rates of release per 1000 population and fatal overdose per 100,000 person-years, adjusting for spatial autocorrelation in both the exposure and outcome. Our results suggest that for each additional person released to a given census tract per 1000 population, there is a corresponding increase in the rate of fatal overdose by 2 per 100,000 person years. This association is more pronounced in suburban tracts, where each additional release awaiting trial is associated with an increase in the rate of fatal overdose of 4 per 100,000 person-years and 6 per 100,000 person-years for each additional release following sentence expiration. This association is not modified by the presence or absence of a licensed medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) treatment provider in the same or surrounding tracts. Our results suggest that neighborhood-level release rates are moderately informative as to tract-level rates of fatal overdose and underscore the importance of expanding pre-release MOUD access in correctional settings. Future research should explore risk and resource environments particularly in suburban and rural areas and their impacts on overdose risk among individuals returning to the community., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors report no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Despite recent HIV outbreaks among people who inject drugs (PWID) in nonurban US settings, syringe service programs (SSP) are often inaccessible in these communities. Furthermore, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) awareness and coverage for PWID is limited. We aimed to model the impact of PrEP on HIV transmission among PWID in a rural setting., Setting: Using a calibrated agent-based model, we simulated HIV transmission in an adult population (n = 14,573 agents) in Scott County, Indiana between 2015 and 2024., Methods: We modeled PrEP eligibility according to CDC guidelines for PWID. PrEP coverage increased by 15% points in the range 10%-70%. Two counterfactual scenarios were modeled: Unrestricted access for PWID and PrEP for SSP attendees . We calculated the number of new HIV infections and number of person-years on PrEP per averted infection., Results: In the status quo scenario, 153 (95% Simulation Interval: 85, 259) new HIV infections occurred among PWID over 10 years. Compared with the status quo, 40% PrEP coverage resulted in 25% fewer HIV infections in the Unrestricted access for PWID scenario and 10% fewer HIV infections in the PrEP for SSP attendees scenario. The PYPAI was 21 and 43 in the Unrestricted access for PWID and PrEP for SSP attendees scenarios, respectively., Conclusion: Our modeling suggests that PrEP provides substantial benefit to PWID in rural US communities, with fewer restrictions on access providing the greatest effect. Control of HIV outbreaks will require expansion of public health interventions that meet the needs of all individuals., Competing Interests: The authors have no funding or conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

We developed an agent-based model using a trial emulation approach to quantify effect measure modification of spillover effects of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV among men who have sex with men (MSM) in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metropolitan area, Georgia. PrEP may impact not only the individual prescribed, but also their partners and beyond, known as spillover. We simulated a two-stage randomised trial with eligible components (≥3 agents with ≥1 HIV+ agent) first randomised to intervention or control (no PrEP). Within intervention components, agents were randomised to PrEP with coverage of 70%, providing insight into a high PrEP coverage strategy. We evaluated effect modification by component-level characteristics and estimated spillover effects on HIV incidence using an extension of randomisation-based estimators. We observed an attenuation of the spillover effect when agents were in components with a higher prevalence of either drug use or bridging potential (if an agent acts as a mediator between ≥2 connected groups of agents). The estimated spillover effects were larger in magnitude among components with either higher HIV prevalence or greater density (number of existing partnerships compared to all possible partnerships). Consideration of effect modification is important when evaluating the spillover of PrEP among MSM.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to put strain on health systems in the United States, leading to significant shifts in the delivery of routine clinical services, including those offering HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). We aimed to assess whether individuals discontinued PrEP use at higher rates during the COVID-19 pandemic and the extent to which disruptions to usual clinical care were mitigated through telehealth., Methods: Using data from an ongoing prospective cohort of men who have sex with men (MSM) newly initiating PrEP in 3 mid-sized cities (n = 195), we calculated the rate of first-time discontinuation of PrEP use in the period before the COVID-19 pandemic and during the COVID-19 pandemic and compared these rates using incidence rate ratios (IRRs). Furthermore, we compared the characteristics of patients who discontinued PrEP use during these periods with those who continued to use PrEP during both periods., Results: Rates of PrEP discontinuation before the COVID pandemic and during the COVID-19 pandemic were comparable [4.29 vs. 5.20 discontinuations per 100 person-months; IRR: 1.95; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.83 to 1.77]. Although no significant differences in the PrEP discontinuation rate were observed in the overall population, the rate of PrEP discontinuation increased by almost 3-fold among participants aged 18-24 year old (IRR: 2.78; 95% CI: 1.48 to 5.23) and by 29% among participants covered by public insurance plans at enrollment (IRR: 1.29; 95% CI: 1.03 to 5.09). Those who continued to use PrEP were more likely to have had a follow-up clinical visit by telehealth in the early months of the pandemic (45% vs. 17%)., Conclusions: In this study, rates of PrEP discontinuation were largely unchanged with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of telehealth likely helped retain patients in PrEP care and should continue to be offered in the future., Competing Interests: Supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH114657; MPI: P.A.C. and A.S.N.). B.G.R. has received research project funds from Gilead Sciences, Inc. L.A.M. has received consulting fees and speaker fees from Gilead Sciences, Inc.; GlaxoSmithKline, LLC; Merck Sharp & Dohme Corporation; Roche Molecular Systems, Inc.; Theratechnologies, Inc.; and ViiV Health Healthcare Company. R.R.P. has received consulting fees from Gilead Sciences, Inc. and ViiV Healthcare Company. The remaining authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

We conducted a cross-sectional web-based study to assess attitudes and experiences with HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) amongst a multiracial cohort of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women in Long Island, New York. Participants were recruited through clinical providers and community-based organizations. The survey assessed knowledge and attitudes toward PrEP and factors that facilitate willingness to take it. Of the 189 respondents, most participants were Latinx/Hispanic (57.1%; n = 105), gay-identifying (81.2%; n = 151), and cisgender men (88.7%; n = 165). One in five participants completed high school or lower (19.4%; n = 36). Among those who had never used PrEP (53.4%; n = 101), nearly all participants were willing to use it if it were free or covered as part of their insurance (89.4%; n = 84). The most common barriers to not using PrEP was not knowing where to obtain it (68.3%; n = 69), concerns about side effects (42.1%; n = 35), and concerns about affordability (38.5%; n = 25) . This study discusses specific nuances to the suburbs, including cultural norms and structural barriers that should be incorporated in health promotion initiatives in addressing these factors.

Objectives: To compare the characteristics of individual overdose decedents in Rhode Island, 2016-2020 to the neighborhoods where fatal overdoses occurred over the same time period., Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of fatal overdoses occurring between January 1, 2016 and June 30, 2020. Using individual- and neighborhood-level data, we conducted descriptive analyses to explore the characteristics of individuals and neighborhoods most affected by overdose., Results: Most overdose decedents during the study period were non-Hispanic White. Across increasingly more White and non-Hispanic neighborhoods, rates of fatal overdose per 100,000 person-years decreased. An opposite pattern was observed across quintiles of average neighborhood poverty., Conclusions: Rates of fatal overdose were higher in less White, more Hispanic, and poorer neighborhoods, suggesting modest divergence between the characteristics of individuals and the neighborhoods most severely affected. These impacts may not be uniform across space and may accrue differentially to more disadvantaged and racially/ethnically diverse neighborhoods.

Background: Suboptimal HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) care outcomes among Black/African American men who have sex with men (MSM) limits its population-level effects on HIV incidence. We conducted a pilot study of a brief patient navigation intervention aimed at improving PrEP initiation and persistence among Black/African American MSM in the Southern United States., Setting: Community health center in Jackson, MS., Methods: We recruited 60 Black/African American MSM aged 18-34 years who were newly prescribed PrEP. Participants were randomized to receive the clinic's current standard of care or an intervention condition including a single patient navigation session to discuss and address perceived barriers to initiating and maintaining access to PrEP and biweekly check-ins. Participants were followed over 6 months using survey assessments, medical chart review, and pharmacy purchase records to ascertain PrEP initiation and persistence., Results: Participants in the intervention condition were more likely to pick up their initial PrEP prescription [RR: 1.47; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.10 to 1.97], be retained in PrEP care at 3 months (RR: 1.62; 95% CI: 1.01 to 2.59) and 6 months (RR: 1.38; 95% CI: 0.64 to 2.93), and have access to PrEP medications greater than 80% of all study days based on pharmacy fill records (RR: 3.00; 95% CI: 1.50 to 5.98)., Conclusion: A brief patient navigation intervention demonstrated proof-of-concept in improving PrEP initiation and persistence among Black/African American MSM in the Southern United States., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Disruptions in access to in-person human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) preventive care during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may have a negative impact on our progress towards the Ending the HIV Epidemic goals in the United States., Methods: We used an agent-based model to simulate HIV transmission among Black/African American men who have sex with men in Mississippi over 5 years to estimate how different reductions in access affected the number of undiagnosed HIV cases, new pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) starts, and HIV incidence., Results: We found that each additional 25% decrease in HIV testing and PrEP initiation was associated with decrease of 20% in the number of cases diagnosed and 23% in the number of new PrEP starts, leading to a 15% increase in HIV incidence from 2020 to 2022., Conclusions: Unmet need for HIV testing and PrEP prescriptions during the COVID-19 pandemic may temporarily increase HIV incidence in the years immediately after the disruption period., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.)

Background and Aims: In light of the accelerating drug overdose epidemic in North America, new strategies are needed to identify communities most at risk to prioritize geographically the existing public health resources (e.g. street outreach, naloxone distribution efforts). We aimed to develop PROVIDENT (Preventing Overdose using Information and Data from the Environment), a machine learning-based forecasting tool to predict future overdose deaths at the census block group (i.e. neighbourhood) level., Design: Randomized, population-based, community intervention trial., Setting: Rhode Island, USA., Participants: All people who reside in Rhode Island during the study period may contribute data to either the model or the trial outcomes., Intervention: Each of the state's 39 municipalities will be randomized to the intervention (PROVIDENT) or comparator condition. An interactive, web-based tool will be developed to visualize the PROVIDENT model predictions. Municipalities assigned to the treatment arm will receive neighbourhood risk predictions from the PROVIDENT model, and state agencies and community-based organizations will direct resources to neighbourhoods identified as high risk. Municipalities assigned to the control arm will continue to receive surveillance information and overdose prevention resources, but they will not receive neighbourhood risk predictions., Measurements: The primary outcome is the municipal-level rate of fatal and non-fatal drug overdoses. Fatal overdoses will be defined as unintentional drug-related death; non-fatal overdoses will be defined as an emergency department visit for a suspected overdose reported through the state's syndromic surveillance system. Intervention efficacy will be assessed using Poisson or negative binomial regression to estimate incidence rate ratios comparing fatal and non-fatal overdose rates in treatment vs. control municipalities., Comments: The findings will inform the utility of predictive modelling as a tool to improve public health decision-making and inform resource allocation to communities that should be prioritized for prevention, treatment, recovery and overdose rescue services., (© 2021 Society for the Study of Addiction.)

Predictors of opioid overdose death in neighborhoods are important to identify, both to understand characteristics of high-risk areas and to prioritize limited prevention and intervention resources. Machine learning methods could serve as a valuable tool for identifying neighborhood-level predictors. We examined statewide data on opioid overdose death from Rhode Island (log-transformed rates for 2016-2019) and 203 covariates from the American Community Survey for 742 US Census block groups. The analysis included a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) algorithm followed by variable importance rankings from a random forest algorithm. We employed double cross-validation, with 10 folds in the inner loop to train the model and 4 outer folds to assess predictive performance. The ranked variables included a range of dimensions of socioeconomic status, including education, income and wealth, residential stability, race/ethnicity, social isolation, and occupational status. The R2 value of the model on testing data was 0.17. While many predictors of overdose death were in established domains (education, income, occupation), we also identified novel domains (residential stability, racial/ethnic distribution, and social isolation). Predictive modeling with machine learning can identify new neighborhood-level predictors of overdose in the continually evolving opioid epidemic and anticipate the neighborhoods at high risk of overdose mortality., (© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Background: The endocannabinoid system has been implicated in physiological processes fundamental to pain, giving plausibility to the hypothesis that cannabis may be used as a substitute or complement to prescription opioids in the management of chronic pain. We examined the association of medical cannabis licensure with likelihood of prescription opioid receipt using administrative records., Methods: This study linked registry information for medical cannabis licensure with records from the prescription drug monitoring program from April 1, 2016 to March 31, 2019 to create a population-based, retrospective cohort in Rhode Island. We examined within-person changes in receipt of any opioid prescription and receipt of an opioid prescription with a morphine equivalent dose of 50 mg or more, and of 90 mg or more., Results: The sample included 5,296 participants with medical cannabis license. Medical cannabis licensure was not associated with the odds of filling any opioid prescription (OR: 0.99; 95% CI: 0.94-0.1.05) or the odds of filling a prescription with a morphine equivalent dose of 50 mg or more (OR: 0.93; 95% CI: 0.84-1.04) and 90 mg or more (OR: 0.99; 95% CI: 0.86-1.15)., Conclusion: Medical cannabis licensure was not associated with subsequent cessation and reduction in prescription opioid use. Re-scheduling of cannabis will allow for the conduct of randomized controlled trials to determine the efficacy of medical cannabis as an alternative to prescription opioid use or a complement to the use of lower doses of prescription opioids in patients with chronic pain., Competing Interests: Declarations of Interest None., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Standard equations for estimating glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) employ race multipliers, systematically inflating eGFR for Black patients. Such inflation is clinically significant because eGFR thresholds of 60, 30, and 20 ml/min/1.73m 2 guide kidney disease management. Racialized adjustment of eGFR in Black Americans may thereby affect their clinical care. In this study, we analyze and extrapolate national data to assess potential impacts of the eGFR race adjustment on qualification for kidney disease diagnosis, nephrologist referral, and transplantation listing., Methods: Using population-representative cross-sectional data from the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2015-2018, eGFR values for Black Americans were calculated using the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) equation with and without the 1.21 race-specific coefficient using cohort data on age, sex, race, and serum creatinine., Findings: Without the MDRD eGFR race adjustment, 3.3 million (10.4%) more Black Americans would reach a diagnostic threshold for Stage 3 Chronic Kidney Disease, 300,000 (0.7%) more would qualify for beneficial nephrologist referral, and 31,000 (0.1%) more would become eligible for transplant evaluation and waitlist inclusion., Interpretation: These findings suggest eGFR race coefficients may contribute to racial differences in the management of kidney. We provide recommendations for addressing this issue at institutional and individual levels., Funding: No external funding was received for this study., Competing Interests: Author JPC acknowledges support from the National Institutes of Health Medical Scientist Training Program Grant T32GM136651 and the Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Research Scholars Program. Author WSA has previously acted as a site principal investigator, with fees paid to the institution, for Novartis, Medeor Therapeutics, Amplyx Therapeutics, and InRegen. WSA also serves on the education committee for the American Society of Transplantation. Author MLM previously consulted for BayerAG in 2020. Author VG has previously received payment for educational work for Akebia Pharmaceuticals, the University of New Mexico, Alameda Health System, and the University of Illinois Chicago., (© 2021 The Author(s).)

Objective: In the United States (USA), HIV preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use is suboptimal. Population-level metrics on PrEP use are limited and focus on prescriptions issued rather than how much prescriptions are picked up. We introduce PrEP reversals, defined as when patients fail to pick up PrEP prescriptions at the pharmacy point-of-sale, as a proxy for PrEP initiation and persistence., Design: We analysed PrEP pharmacy claims and HIV diagnoses from a Symphony Health Solutions dataset across all US states from 1 October 2015 to 30 September 2019., Methods: We calculated the percentage of individuals who were newly prescribed PrEP and who reversed (i.e. patient did not pick up an insurance-approved prescription and pharmacy withdrew the claim), delayed (reversed and then picked up within 90 days), very delayed (reversed and then picked up between 90 and 365 days) or abandoned (not picked up within 365 days), and subsequent HIV diagnosis within 365 days., Results: Of 59 219 individuals newly prescribed PrEP, 19% reversed their index prescription. Among those, 21% delayed initiation and 8% had very delayed initiation. Seventy-one percent of patients who reversed their initial prescription abandoned it, 6% of whom were diagnosed with HIV---three times higher than those who persisted on PrEP., Conclusion: Nearly one in five patients newlyprescribed PrEP reversed initial prescriptions, leading to delayed medication access, being lost to PrEP care, and dramatically higher HIV risk. Reversals could be used for real-time nationwide PrEP population-based initiation and persistence tracking, and for identifying patients that might otherwise be lost to care., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

This study investigated sexual identity and behavior and their potential associations with PrEP use and attitudes in cisgender Black gay and bisexual men. A total of N = 173 (mean age 25.2) participants from the Neighborhoods and Networks (N2) Study in Chicago were included. Of these, 104 were gay-identified and reported sex with men only (GSMO), 26 were gay-identified and reported sex with men and women (GSMW), 8 were bisexual-identified and reported sex with men only (BSMO), and 35 were bisexual-identified and reported sex with men and women (BSMW). Reporting sex with men and women in the past 6 months, RR = 0.39, 95% CI [0.17, 0.89], identifying as bisexual, RR = 0.52, 95% CI [0.29, 0.92], and the combination of the two, RR = 0.24, 95% CI [0.07, 0.76] were significantly associated with lower rates of current oral PrEP use. Black bisexual-identifying men who reported sex with men and women were significantly more likely to have discontinued oral PrEP, RR = 2.50, 95% CI [1.14, 5.50], than Black gay-identified men who reported sex with men only. Participants who had not used oral PrEP before reported lower levels of interest in long-acting injectable PrEP than those who were currently using oral PrEP, RR = 0.56, 95% CI [0.40, 0.79]. No other significant differences were found. Overlooking the combination of sexual identity and behavior may mischaracterize PrEP rates and miss uniquely vulnerable subgroups. Black gay and bisexual men who had not used oral PrEP may be particularly disinterested in long-acting injectable PrEP., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: In the USA, Black and Hispanic or Latinx individuals continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV. Applying a distributional cost-effectiveness framework, we estimated the cost-effectiveness and epidemiological impact of two combination implementation approaches to identify the approach that best meets the dual objectives of improving population health and reducing racial or ethnic health disparities., Methods: We adapted a dynamic, compartmental HIV transmission model to characterise HIV micro-epidemics in six US cities: Atlanta, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and Seattle. We considered combinations of 16 evidence-based interventions to diagnose, treat, and prevent HIV transmission according to previously documented levels of scale-up. We then identified optimal combination strategies for each city, with the distribution of each intervention implemented according to existing service levels (proportional services approach) and the racial or ethnic distribution of new diagnoses (between Black, Hispanic or Latinx, and White or other ethnicity individuals; equity approach). We estimated total costs, quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios of strategies implemented from 2020 to 2030 (health-care perspective; 20-year time horizon; 3% annual discount rate). We estimated three measures of health inequality (between-group variance, index of disparity, Theil index), incidence rate ratios, and rate differences for the selected strategies under each approach., Findings: In all cities, optimal combination strategies under the equity approach generated more QALYs than those with proportional services, ranging from a 3·1% increase (95% credible interval [CrI] 1·4-5·3) in New York to more than double (101·9% [75·4-134·6]) in Atlanta. Compared with proportional services, the equity approach delivered lower costs over 20 years in all cities except Los Angeles; cost reductions ranged from $22·9 million (95% CrI 5·3-55·7 million) in Seattle to $579·8 million (255·4-940·5 million) in Atlanta. The equity approach also reduced incidence disparities and health inequality measures in all cities except Los Angeles., Interpretation: Equity-focused HIV combination implementation strategies that reduce disparities for Black and Hispanic or Latinx individuals can significantly improve population health, reduce costs, and drive progress towards Ending the HIV Epidemic goals in the USA., Funding: National Institute on Drug Abuse., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests KA reports grants from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), personal fees from The All of Us Research Program (NIH), personal fees from TrioHealth, and non-financial support from Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, outside the submitted work. CNB reports grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, during the conduct of the study. EE reports personal fees from ViiV Healthcare, outside the submitted work. KAG reports personal fees from Simon Fraser University, during the conduct of the study. SHM reports personal fees from Gilead Sciences, outside the submitted work. MG reports research support from Hologic, outside the submitted work. SAS reports grants from NIH, outside the submitted work. HT reports grants from Gilead Sciences, outside the submitted work. BN reports grants from NIH, during the conduct of the study. All other authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for prevention of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection may benefit not only the person who uses it but also their uninfected sexual risk contacts. We developed an agent-based model using a novel trial emulation approach to quantify disseminated effects of PrEP use among men who have sex with men in Atlanta, Georgia, from 2015 to 2017. Model components (subsets of agents connected through partnerships in a sexual network but not sharing partnerships with any other agents) were first randomized to an intervention coverage level or the control group; then, within intervention components, eligible agents were randomized to receive or not receive PrEP. We calculated direct and disseminated (indirect) effects using randomization-based estimators and report corresponding 95% simulation intervals across scenarios ranging from 10% coverage in the intervention components to 90% coverage. A population of 11,245 agents was simulated, with an average of 1,551 components identified. When comparing agents randomized to no PrEP in 70% coverage components with control agents, there was a 15% disseminated risk reduction in HIV incidence (risk ratio = 0.85, 95% simulation interval: 0.65, 1.05). Persons not on PrEP may receive a protective benefit by being in a sexual network with higher PrEP coverage. Agent-based models are useful for evaluating possible direct and disseminated effects of HIV prevention modalities in sexual networks., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Because use of geosocial-networking smartphone applications ('apps') is ubiquitous among men who have sex with men (MSM), online-to-offline service models that include advertisements on these apps may improve engagement with effective HIV prevention and treatment services. Through our formative qualitative study, we conducted individual in-depth interviews (n = 30) and focus group discussions (n = 18) with MSM in Rhode Island to develop a digital social marketing campaign aimed at increasing HIV testing, including how best to reach men by advertising on apps. Qualitative data analysis revealed that participants were frequently exposed to pop-up advertisements on apps. These advertisements are viewed as invasive and, as such, many expressed a preference for other formats (e.g., direct messages, banner advertisements). Men expressed a preference for provocative images and phrases to catch their attention followed with fact-driven messaging to motivate them to engage with services offline. Findings from this study offer several practical recommendations for developing a social marketing campaign that uses advertisements on apps to increase HIV testing among MSM, including using formats other than pop-up advertisements and pairing fact-driven messaging with eye-catching images to direct them to trusted local clinical services.

Overdose deaths across the country have spiked since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is crucial now, more than ever, to address the continuing and worsening, complex and dynamic opioid and overdose epidemics. In 2018, The Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) on Opioids and Overdose, based at Rhode Island Hospital, launched with three major goals: 1) establish a center of scientific excellence on opioids and overdose; 2) train the next generation of scientists to become independent investigators and address the opioid and overdose crises; and 3) contribute to the scientific progress and solutions to combat these epidemics. To date, we have made substantial progress. While the opioid and overdose crises continue to evolve, the COBRE on Opioid and Overdose and its team of investigators are well poised to address the daunting task of understanding and meaningfully addressing these deadly epidemics, with the ultimate goal of saving lives.

As HIV incidence among people who inject drugs grows in the context of an escalating drug overdose epidemic in North America, investigating how network structure may affect vulnerability to rapid HIV transmission is necessary for preventing outbreaks. We compared the characteristics of the observed contact tracing network from the 2015 outbreak in rural Indiana with 1000 networks generated by an agent-based network model with approximately the same number of individuals (n = 420) and ties between them (n = 913). We introduced an initial HIV infection into the simulated networks and compared the subsequent epidemic behavior (e.g., cumulative HIV infections over 5 years). The model was able to produce networks with largely comparable characteristics and total numbers of incident HIV infections. Although the model was unable to produce networks with comparable cohesiveness (where the observed network had a transitivity value 35.7 standard deviations from the mean of the simulated networks), the structural variability of the simulated networks allowed for investigation into their potential facilitation of HIV transmission. These findings emphasize the need for continued development of injection network simulation studies in tandem with empirical data collection to further investigate how network characteristics played a role in this and future outbreaks., (Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Although there is ongoing debate over the need for substantial increases in pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use when antiretroviral treatment confers the dual benefits of reducing HIV-related morbidity and mortality and the risk of HIV transmission, no studies to date have quantified the potential added benefits of PrEP use and changes in its efficiency in the context of high treatment engagement across multiple US subpopulations. We used a previously published agent-based model to simulate HIV transmission in a dynamic network of Black/African American and White men who have sex with men (MSM) in Atlanta, Georgia (2015-2024) to understand how reductions in HIV incidence attributable to varying levels of PrEP use change when United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) "90-90-90" goals for HIV treatment are achieved and maintained. Even at achievement of "90-90-90" goals, 75% PrEP coverage further reduced incidence by 67.9% and 74.2% to 1.53 [simulation interval (SI): 1.39-1.70] and 0.355 (SI: 0.316-0.391) per 100 person-years for Black/African American and White MSM, respectively, compared with the same scenario with no PrEP use. Increasing PrEP coverage from 15% to 75% under "90-90-90" goals only increased the number of person-years of PrEP use per infection averted by 8.1% and 10.5% to 26.7 (SI: 25.6-28.0) and 73.3 (SI: 70.6-75.7) among Black/African American MSM and White MSM, respectively. Even with high treatment engagement, substantial expansion of PrEP use contributes to meaningful decreases in HIV incidence among MSM with minimal changes in efficiency.

The purpose of this study was to examine and quantify spatial mobility among HIV-negative young men who have sex with men (YMSM) within and across high prevalence HIV neighborhoods in New York City (NYC). We completed an analysis with global positioning system (GPS) and survey data to quantify spatial mobility for participants enrolled in the P18 Neighborhood Study (analytic n = 211; 83.4%). Spatial mobility was documented with self-reported survey data and objective GPS data, which was uncorrelated. Nearly one-quarter of participants (26.1%) said that they consider the neighborhood in which they currently live to differ from the neighborhood in which they had sex most frequently. In addition, 62.9% of participants' GPS points were recorded in NYC ZIP Code Tabulation Areas within the highest quartile of HIV prevalence. Future studies of YMSM populations should be conducted to examine how environments beyond the residential neighborhood can influence sexual health, which may guide HIV prevention services., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Purpose: We assessed if young transgender women (YTW) with parents who are supportive of their transgender identity had lower odds of having suicidal ideation compared with YTW with unsupportive parents. Methods: This study analyzed baseline findings from a diverse sample of 297 sexually active, YTW 16-29 years of age who were enrolled in Project LifeSkills, a randomized controlled HIV prevention intervention efficacy trial in Chicago and Boston, between 2012 and 2015. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression were used to assess if parental support was associated with a decreased odds of suicidal ideation. Results: Nearly one-fifth (18.9%) of YTW reported suicidal ideation at baseline. In our adjusted multivariable model, YTW with supportive mothers had 0.37 (95% confidence interval = 0.15-0.90) times the odds of having suicidal ideation compared with YTW with unsupportive mothers. Conclusion: This study found that the odds of suicidal ideation were lower among YTW who had mothers who were supportive of their transgender identity. Our results suggest that parent-focused interventions to improve the relationships between YTW and their parents may lower the odds of YTW having suicidal ideation. Clinical Trial Registration Identifier: NCT01575938.

Young black men who have sex with men (YBMSM) and young black transgender women (TGW) have experienced a stark disparity in HIV prevention and care. Resilience, collective resources to adapt stressors or adversities, may improve HIV prevention and care outcomes. The present study investigated the association of resilience-based factors with PrEP uptake and viral suppression from a socioecological perspective among YBMSM and young black TGW. Data were from the baseline cycle of the Neighborhoods and Networks (N2) Study, an ongoing cohort study of 16-34-year-old YBMSM and young black TGW in Chicago (n = 324). Confidant network-level and neighborhood affiliation variables were created to measure the social-environmental context of resilience. All analyses were stratified by participants' HIV status (184 HIV-negative participants and 140 HIV-positive participants). Among HIV-negative participants, having a parental figure within an individual's confidant network was significantly associated with a greater likelihood of PrEP use. Among HIV-positive participants, confidant network members' awareness of an individual's HIV status was associated with viral suppression. Social support resources from confidant networks could improve HIV prevention and care engagement among YBMSM and young black TGW. Understanding the social and environmental contexts of resilience resource is critical for HIV prevention and care engagement.

Background: It is unknown what levels of preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use are needed to reduce racial disparities in HIV incidence among men who have sex with men (MSM). Using an agent-based model, we quantified the impact of achieving PrEP coverage targets grounded in equity on racial disparities in HIV incidence among MSM in an urban setting in the Southeastern United States., Methods: An agent-based model was adapted to simulate HIV transmission in a network of Black/African American and White MSM aged 18-39 years in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell metropolitan area over 10 years (2015-2024). Scenarios simulated coverage levels consistent with targets based on the ratio of the number of individuals using PrEP to the number of individuals newly diagnosed in a calendar year (i.e., the 'PrEP-to-need ratio'), ranging from 1 to 10. Incidence rate ratios and differences were calculated as measures of disparities., Results: Without PrEP, the model predicted a rate ratio of 3.82 and a rate difference of 4.50 comparing HIV incidence in Black/African American and White MSM, respectively. Decreases in the rate ratio of at least 50% and in the rate difference of at least 75% were observed in all scenarios in which the PrEP-to-need ratio among Black/African American MSM was 10, regardless of the value among White MSM., Conclusion: Significant increases in PrEP use are needed among Black/African American MSM to reduce racial disparities in HIV incidence. PrEP expansion must be coupled with structural interventions to address vulnerability to HIV infection among Black/African American MSM.

Spatial contexts and spatial mobility are important factors of the HIV epidemic and sexually transmitted infections. Using global positioning system (GPS) devices, we examined the associations of objectively measured spatial mobility with sexual risk behaviors among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM) in New York City. This observational study included a subgroup of 253 HIV-negative MSM from the Project 18 Cohort Study, who participated in the GPS monitoring sub-study. Spatial mobility was measured as (1) distance traveled and (2) activity space size defined as daily path area during 2-week of GPS tracking. We examined the associations of these measures with numbers of male sexual partners and condomless anal intercourse (CAI) acts during last six months using quasi-Poisson models, adjusting for socio-demographics. Results demonstrated that spatial mobility was positively associated with sexual risk behaviors, for example, with CAI (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 1.01 for a 10 km increase in distance traveled and IRR = 1.04 for a 1 km 2 increase in 50 m-buffer activity space size). Our findings may enhance the understanding of spatial contexts of HIV risk. Future studies should be conducted to examine the mechanisms for the associations between spatial mobility behaviors with sexual risk behaviors as well as the influence of neighborhood characteristics in various neighborhood contexts, which may guide the place-based HIV prevention services., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Importance: Treatment with methadone or buprenorphine is the current standard of care for opioid use disorder. Given the paucity of research identifying which patients will respond best to which medication, both medications should be accessible to all patients so that patients can determine which works best for them. However, given differences in the historical contexts of their initial implementation, access to each of these medications may vary along racial/ethnic lines., Objective: To examine the extent to which capacity to provide methadone and buprenorphine vary with measures of racial/ethnic segregation., Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional study included all counties and county-equivalent divisions in the US in 2016. Data on racial/ethnic population distribution were derived from the American Community Survey, and data on locations of facilities providing methadone and buprenorphine were obtained from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration databases. Data were analyzed from August 22, 2018, to September 11, 2019., Exposures: Two county-level measures of racial/ethnic segregation, including dissimilarity (representing the proportion of African American or Hispanic/Latino residents who would need to move census tracts to achieve a uniform spatial distribution of the population by race/ethnicity) and interaction (representing the probability that an African American or Hispanic/Latino resident will interact with a white resident and vice versa, assuming random mixing across census tracts)., Main Outcomes and Measures: County-level capacity to provide methadone or buprenorphine, defined as the number of facilities providing a medication per 100 000 population., Results: Among 3142 US counties, there were 1698 facilities providing methadone (0.6 facilities per 100 000 population) and 18 868 facilities providing buprenorphine (5.9 facilities per 100 000 population). Each 1% decrease in probability of interaction of an African American resident with a white resident was associated with 0.6 more facilities providing methadone per 100 000 population. Similarly, each 1% decrease in probability of interaction of a Hispanic/Latino resident with a white resident was associated with 0.3 more facilities providing methadone per 100 000 population. Each 1% decrease in the probability of interaction of a white resident with an African American resident was associated with 8.17 more facilities providing buprenorphine per 100 000 population. Similarly, each 1% decrease in the probability of interaction of a white resident with a Hispanic/Latino resident was associated with 1.61 more facilities providing buprenorphine per 100 000 population., Conclusions and Relevance: These findings suggest that the racial/ethnic composition of a community was associated with which medications residents would likely be able to access when seeking treatment for opioid use disorder. Reforms to existing regulations governing the provisions of these medications are needed to ensure that both medications are equally accessible to all.

Little is known about the potential population-level impact of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use among cisgender male sex workers (MSWs), a high-risk subset of cisgender men who have sex with men (MSM). Using an agent-based model, we simulated HIV transmission among cisgender MSM in Rhode Island to determine the impacts of PrEP implementation where cisgender MSWs were equally ("standard expansion") or five times as likely ("focused expansion") to initiate PrEP compared to other cisgender MSM. Without PrEP, the model predicted 920 new HIV infections over a decade, or an average incidence of 0.39 per 100 person-years. In a focused expansion scenario where 15% of at-risk cisgender MSM used PrEP, the total number of new HIV infections was reduced by 58.1% at a cost of $57,180 per quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) gained. Focused expansion of PrEP use among cisgender MSWs may be an efficient and cost-effective strategy for reducing HIV incidence in the broader population of cisgender MSM.

Background: Syringe services programs (SSPs) are effective venues for delivering harm-reduction services to people who inject drugs (PWID). However, SSPs often face significant barriers to implementation, particularly in the absence of known human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) outbreaks., Methods: Using an agent-based model, we simulated HIV transmission in Scott County, Indiana, a rural county with a 1.7% prevalence of injection drug use. We compared outcomes arising in the absence of an SSP, in the presence of a pre-existing SSP, and with implementation of an SSP after the detection of an HIV outbreak among PWID over 5 years following the introduction of a single infection into the network., Results: In the absence of an SSP, the model predicted an average of 176 infections among PWID over 5 years or an incidence rate of 12.1/100 person-years. Proactive implementation averted 154 infections and decreased incidence by 90.3%. With reactive implementation beginning operations 10 months after the first infection, an SSP would prevent 107 infections and decrease incidence by 60.8%. Reductions in incidence were also observed among people who did not inject drugs., Conclusions: Based on model predictions, proactive implementation of an SSP in Scott County had the potential to avert more HIV infections than reactive implementation after the detection of an outbreak. The predicted impact of reactive SSP implementation was highly dependent on timely implementation after detecting the earliest infections. Consequently, there is a need for expanded proactive SSP implementation in the context of enhanced monitoring of outbreak vulnerability in Scott County and similar rural contexts., (© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Importance: Nonmedical prescription opioid use is a pressing public health issue in the United States. Transgender youth, including adolescent girls and young women who were assigned male at birth and currently identify as women, female, transgender women, or another diverse gender identity along the transfeminine gender spectrum, are more likely than their cisgender peers to report illicit substance use and meet diagnostic criteria for substance use disorders. However, relatively little is known about the experiences of these populations in the current era of opioid addiction and misuse., Objective: To report the prevalence of and risk factors associated with lifetime nonmedical prescription opioid use in a high-risk community sample of transgender adolescent girls and young women who are sexually active., Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional study used 2012 to 2015 baseline data from Project LifeSkills, a randomized clinical trial of a behavioral intervention to reduce the risk of HIV acquisition and transmission among a diverse sample of transgender adolescent girls and young women recruited from Boston, Massachusetts, and Chicago, Illinois. A total of 297 transgender girls and women aged 16 to 29 years who were sexually active were included in this analysis. Data were analyzed from June 2019 to August 2019., Exposures: Transgender woman identification., Main Outcomes and Measures: Self-reported lifetime nonmedical prescription opioid use., Results: Among 297 transgender adolescent girls and young women (mean [SD] age, 23.4 [3.5] years), 145 (48.8%) identified as non-Hispanic/Latinx black, 76 (25.6%) identified as non-Hispanic/Latinx white, 37 (12.5%) identified as Hispanic/Latinx, 7 (2.4%) identified as non-Hispanic/Latinx Asian, and 32 (10.8%) identified as multiracial or other race/ethnicity. Thirty-five participants (11.8%) reported lifetime nonmedical prescription opioid use. Young transgender women who smoked cigarettes monthly or less (adjusted odds ratio, 3.92; 95% CI, 1.10-13.89) and who smoked daily (adjusted odds ratio, 5.69; 95% CI, 1.87-17.33) had greater odds of nonmedical prescription opioid use compared with those who did not smoke. Additionally, participants who identified as a sexual orientation other than heterosexual, gay, lesbian, or bisexual had significantly greater odds of lifetime nonmedical prescription opioid use compared with those who identified as heterosexual (adjusted odds ratio, 3.69; 95% CI, 1.07-12.72)., Conclusions and Relevance: These findings suggest that transgender adolescent girls and young women have similar prevalence of lifetime nonmedical prescription opioid use compared with the US general population prevalence of 12.5%. These findings may serve as a call-to-action for public health surveillance studies and evidence-based interventions to be comprehensively tailored to examine and respond to specific trends of substance use, particularly opioid use disorder, among transgender populations.

Background: Medications for opioid use disorder (OUD) are the most effective treatment for OUD, but uptake of these life-saving medications has been extremely limited in US prisons and jail settings, and limited data are available to guide policy decisions. The objective of this study was to estimate the impact of screening and treatment with medications for OUD in US prisons and jails on post-release opioid-related mortality., Methods: We used data from the National Center for Vital Statistics, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and relevant literature to construct Monte Carlo simulations of a counterfactual scenario in which wide scale uptake of screening and treatment with medications for OUD occurred in US prisons and jails in 2016., Results: Our model predicted that 1840 (95% Simulation Interval [SI]: -2757 - 4959) lives would have been saved nationally if all persons who were clinically indicated had received medications for OUD while incarcerated. The model also predicted that approximately 4400 (95% SI: 2675 - 5557) lives would have been saved nationally if all persons who were clinically indicated had received medications for OUD while incarcerated and were retained in treatment post-release. These estimates correspond to 668 (95% SI: -1008 - 1812) and 1609 (95% SI: 972 - 2037) lives saved per 10,000 persons incarcerated, respectively., Conclusions: Prison and jail-based programs that comprehensively screen and provide treatment with medications for OUD have the potential to produce substantial reductions in opioid-related overdose deaths in a high-risk population; however, retention on treatment post-release is a key driver of population level impact., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest No conflicts declared., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Male sex workers (MSWs) are at increased risk of HIV infection in the United States. Research is limited on sexual and drug use network characteristics of MSWs., Setting: Community-based organization and health center in 2 US Northeast cities., Methods: One hundred MSWs completed a behavioral assessment and sexual and drug network inventory. Using dyadic analyses, we assessed whether network characteristics, including sex worker-male client age, race, and HIV status homophily and risk multiplexity (ie, overlap in drug-use and sex networks), were associated with condom use., Results: MSW participants' mean age was 33.6. Two-thirds identified as Black or Latino, 12% identified as heterosexual, and 90% reported recent drug use. Participants reported an average of 5.3 male clients in the past month (SD = 3.4), and having anal sex with 74% of these clients, at a rate of 2.2 times per month (SD = 4.6). Participants reported inconsistent condom use during anal sex with 53% of clients. In multivariable models, inconsistent condom use was more common in relationships with presumed HIV status homophily [odds ratio (OR): 1.25; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.07 to 1.46] and sexual and drug network multiplexity (OR: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.09 to 1.30); and less common within relationships where the client is older than the MSW participant (OR: 0.83; 95% CI: 0.74 to 0.93). Number of multiplex relationships was positively associated with number of condomless anal sex acts with male clients (incidence rate ratio: 1.35; 95% CI: 1.19 to 1.54)., Conclusions: Network characteristics may contribute to disproportionate HIV risk among MSWs. Modeling studies should include network characteristics when simulating HIV transmission, and future HIV interventions should address the role of networks.

Background: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community centers remain important venues for reaching and providing crucial health and social services to LGBTQ individuals in the United States. These organizations commonly use Facebook to reach their target audiences, but little is known about factors associated with user engagement with their social media presence., Objective: This study aimed to identify factors associated with engagement with Facebook content generated by LGBTQ community centers in the United States., Methods: Content generated by LGBTQ community centers in 2017 was downloaded using Facebook's application programming interface. Posts were classified by their content and sentiment. Correlates of user engagement were identified using negative binomial regression., Results: A total of 32,014 posts from 175 community centers were collected. Posts with photos (incidence rate ratio, [IRR] 1.07; 95% CI 1.06-1.09) and videos (IRR 1.54; 95% CI 1.52-1.56) that contained a direct invitation for engagement (IRR 1.03; 95% CI 1.02-1.04), that expressed a positive sentiment (IRR 1.11; 95% CI 1.10-1.12), and that contained content related to stigma (IRR 1.16; 95% CI 1.14-1.17), mental health (IRR 1.33; 95% CI 1.31-1.35), and politics (IRR 1.28; 95% CI 1.27-1.29) received higher levels of engagement., Conclusions: The results of this study provide support for the use of Facebook to extend the reach of LGBTQ community centers and highlight multiple factors that can be leveraged to optimize engagement., (©William C C. Goedel, Harry Jin, Cassandra Sutten Coats, Adedotun Ogunbajo, Arjee J Restar. Originally published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (http://publichealth.jmir.org), 28.01.2020.)