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Within Canadian prisons HIV/AIDS is becoming more common among inmates. While injection drug use in correctional facilities is documented to be a problem, qualitative research into the HIV risks faced by inmates is lacking. The goal of this research was to qualitatively examine HIV risk associated with injecting inside British Columbia prisons. A sample of 26 former male inmates who had recently used drugs within correctional facilities were recruited from a ongoing cohort study of injection drug users in Vancouver, Canada. Data for this study were collected through in-depth interviews conducted in 2001/2002. Analysis of these data involved identifying emergent themes and then exploring these central concepts in further interviews to confirm the accuracy of interpretation. The harms normally associated with drug addiction, and injection drug use are exacerbated in prison. Interpersonal relationships and the possession of exchangeable resources determine access to scarce syringes. The scarcity of syringes has resulted in patterns of sharing amongst large numbers of persons. Continual reuse of scarce syringes poses serious health hazards and bleach distribution is an inadequate solution. The findings of this study emphasize the need for effective harm reduction programs that provide an appropriate response to the problem of injection drug use among inmates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the association between higher baseline levels of plasma human immunodeficiency virus type 1 RNA and increased mortality after initiation of triple-drug antiretroviral therapy. Determination of independent predictors of time to death using Cox regression; Adjustment of adherence to anti-retroviral therapy; Implications of the research for therapeutic guidelines.

To characterize survival and to compare rates of disease progression to death of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients, between those initiating multiple-drug rescue therapy (MDRT) and those antiretroviral-inexperienced initiating triple-drug antiretroviral therapy (ART), we conducted a population-based analysis of HIV-infected men and women aged ≥18 years in British Columbia, Canada. Cumulative mortality rates were estimated by use of Kaplan-Meier methods, and Cox-proportional hazard regression was used to model the simultaneous effect of prognostic variables on survival. Cumulative mortality at 36 months was 14.2% ±2.0% and 10.9% ±1.0% for the MDRT and triple-drug ART groups, respectively (P =.105, log-rank test). After adjustment for other baseline prognostic variables, MDRT was found not to be a predictor of increased all-cause mortality (relative risk, 1.17; 95% confidence interval, 0.82-1.66) in multivariate analysis. Over the short-term, patients receiving MDRT had relatively low mortality. After adjustment for baseline prognostic factors, rates of survival were comparable with those in patients initiating triple-drug ART. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background: In 1997, we found a higher prevalence of HIV among female than among male injection drug users in Vancouver. Factors associated with HIV incidence among women in this setting were unknown. In the present study, we sought to compare HIV incidence rates among male and female injection drug users in Vancouver and to compare factors associated with HIV seroconversion. Methods: This analysis was based on 939 participants recruited between May 1996 and December 2000 who were seronegative at enrolment with at least one follow-up visit completed, and who were studied prospectively until March 2001. Incidence rates were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. The Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to identify independent predictors of time to HIV seroconversion. Results: As of March 2001, seroconversion had occurred in 110 of 939 participants (64 men, 46 women), yielding a cumulative incidence rate of HIV at 48 months of 13.4% (95% confidence interval [CI] 11.0%-15.8%). Incidence was higher among women than among men (16.6% v. 11.7%, p = 0.074). Multivariate analysis of the female participants' practices revealed injecting cocaine once or more per day compared with injecting less than once per day (adjusted relative risk [RR] 2.6, 95% CI 1.4-4.8), requiring help injecting compared with not requiring such assistance (adjusted RR 2.1, 95% CI 1.1-3.8), having unsafe sex with a regular partner compared with not having unsafe sex with a regular partner (adjusted RR 2.9, 95% CI 0.9-9.5) and having an HIV-positive sex partner compared with not having an HIV-positive sex partner (adjusted RR 2.7, 95% CI 1.0-7.7) to be independent predictors of time to HIV seroconversion. Among male participants, injecting cocaine once or more per day compared with injecting less than once per day (adjusted RR 3.3, 95% CI 1.9-5.6), self-reporting identification as an Aboriginal compared with not self-reporting identification as an Aboriginal (adjusted RR 2... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of high transmissibility of HCV among those injecting frequently and using cocaine, the harm reduction initiatives deployed in Vancouver during the study period proved insufficient to eliminate hepatitis C transmission in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Offers a study that evaluates the demographic and clinical determinants of admission to hospital among HIV-positive patients receiving antiretroviral therapy in British Columbia. Methods; Results; Interpretation.

Young Aboriginal men face marginalization distinct in cause but similar in pattern to those seen among men who have sex with men (MSM) and may be at increased risk for HIV infection. We compared sociodemographic characteristics and risk taking behaviours associated with HIV infection among MSM of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal descent. Data for this comparison were gathered from baseline questionnaires completed by participants in a cohort study of young MSM. Data collection included: demographic characteristics such as age, length of time residing in the Vancouver region, housing, employment, income and income sources; mental health and personal support; instances of forced sex and sex trade participation and; sexual practices with regular and casual male sex partners. Data were available for 57 Aboriginal and 624 non-Aboriginal MSM. Aboriginal MSM were significantly less likely to be employed, more likely to live in unstable housing, to have incomes of <$10,000 and to receive income assistance than non-Aboriginals (all P<0.01). Aboriginals also had higher depression scores (P<0.01), were more likely to report non-consensual sex (P=0.03), sexual abuse during childhood (P=0.04) and having been paid for sex (P<0.01). In the past year they were no more likely to have had sex with a male partner they knew to be HIV positive, to have had more than 50 male partners or to have unprotected anal insertive or receptive intercourse with their male partners (all P>0.05). Our data indicate that among MSM, Aboriginal men are at increased risk of antecedent risk factors for HIV infection including sexual abuse, poverty, poor mental health and involvement in the sex trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a shifting endpoint and sufficient follow-up data now allow modeling of survival time (i.e., time from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seroconversion to death), the authors evaluated non-parametric and parametric models of mortality with the use of data from 554 seropositive participants in the Vancouver Lymphadenopathy-AIDS Study. The authors then applied these models to quantify treatment benefits at the national level in Canada, using back-calculation and forward-projection based on death registries. The study revealed that the lognormal model better describes survival time than the Weibull model. Relative to observations prior to 1987, later observations (in the era of treatment) revealed a statistically significant change in disease progression: the median survival time increased from 10.1 to 12.0 years, but no further survival improvements were observed in the early 1990s. Concurrent with the increase in availability of treatment, the authors have observed pronounced treatment benefits at the national level: prior to 1995, approximately 1,500 deaths were prevented and 4,200 person-years of life were saved. Also, mortality rates were observed to level off in the mid-1990s due to the shape of the historical HIV infection curve and the accumulating availability of treatment in Canada. Am J Epidemiol 1998; 148: 487–96. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to gain an understanding of the determinants of clinical management of HIV disease in adults just prior to the introduction of comprehensive guidelines, we undertook the present study among members of the British Columbia Persons with AIDS Society (BCPWA). The aim of this study was to examine whether the heterogeneity of care for HIV-infected individuals decreases with physician knowledge of HIV/AIDS and the stability of the physician-patient relationship. Eligible participants had to be full members (i.e. HIV positive) of the society, residents of British Columbia, and had to have previously agreed for the BCPWA society to include unsolicited material with their monthly newsletter. Our analysis demonstrates that compliance with appropriate care was associated with a more stable physician-patient relationship and with the perception on the patient's part of a greater level of knowledge on the part of their physician. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opinion. Comments on the existence of the second member of the human immunodeficiency virus family (HIV-2). Isolation of HIV-2; Difference in clinical manifestation of HIV-2; Pathogenicity; Mechanism of transmission and pathogenesis.

The Federal Government of Canada has recently published guidelines for researchers interested in studying supervised injection sites (SIS) in Canada. These guidelines articulate the criteria that must be satisfied before the Minister of Health will authorise any such research. The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical analysis of the new Federal Guidelines and compare them to the Tri-Council Policy Statement on Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS). The application of the TCPS ethical principles underscores the ethical probity of SIS research and demonstrates that SIS research qualifies as “minimal risk.” The new Federal Guidelines do not fully appreciate the innocuous nature of SIS research. The level of scrutiny associated with the new guidelines is disproportionate to the level of risk involved in SIS research and these expectations run the risk of limiting the amount of research that can occur. The uncritical acceptance of these guidelines could have the consequence of continuing to deny injection drug users (IDU) the benefits of this promising research on the grounds that there is an inadequate evidence base to establish SIS as the “standard of care.” [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of, and factors associated with, sexual violence in childhood, adolescence and adulthood, among injection drug using men and women. The Vancouver Injection Drug User Study is a prospective cohort of injection drug users (IDU) begun in 1996. The analysis included all individuals who completed the baseline questionnaire who responded to a question about sexual assault. Multivariate modeling was used to determine and to what extent a history of sexual violence at different ages is predictive of HIV risk and other health risk behaviors. HIV prevalence was calculated as the total current number of HIV-positive individuals in the cohort. Of the 1437 eligible individuals, 36% reported a lifetime history of sexual violence; 68% of women, and 19% of men (p<0.001). After adjusting for fixed sociodemographics, these individuals were more likely to have ever been in the sex trade, to knowingly share needles/rigs with HIV-positive people, to have attempted suicide, to have ever accidentally overdosed, to binge on alcohol, and to have been diagnosed with a mental disorder/disability. The prevalence of child sexual abuse in this cohort is 21%; 33% for women, and 13% for men. The data show a dose–response relationship between age at first sexual violence and most risk behaviors examined. These relationships are further mediated by gender. The prevalence of HIV among individuals who ever experienced sexual violence was 25%, compared to 19% among those who never experienced sexual violence (p=0.006). Sexual violence, and especially child sexual abuse, is highly prevalent among this cohort, particularly among women. Child sexual abuse has worse consequences for both genders than sexual violence later in life. Nevertheless, women and men are affected differently by sexual violence at different ages, and this has significant implications for health promotion programs, and specifically HIV prevention. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Provides estimates of the incidence of constituent symptoms associated with HIV-related lipodystrophy syndrome. Predictors of symptomatology for the lipodystrophy syndrome; Analysis for peripheral wasting, lipohypertrophy and lipid abnormalities; Impact of symptom occurrence on patterns of treatment.

During the mid to late 1990s, Vancouver, Canada experienced a rapid injection drug use-related HIV epidemic, despite the presence of a well-established, high-volume, needle exchange program (NEP). The NEP presently exchanges needles through several fixed sites, the largest of which operates in the city''s Downtown Eastside where injection drug users (IDU) are concentrated, and through mobile exchange vans which exchange needles throughout neighboring areas. The program''s inability to prevent the epidemic has led to persistent questions about the efficacy of needle exchange as a public health intervention. We recently sought possible explanations for persistent needle sharing through an evaluation of the Vancouver Injection Drug Users Study (VIDUS), an ongoing cohort study of IDU that began in 1996. In these analyses, the strongest predictor of needle sharing was difficulty accessing needles; those who reported difficulty accessing needles were 3.5 times more likely to report sharing than those who did not have difficulty with access. In the present study, we sought to identify reasons why IDU continued to have difficulty accessing needles despite the efforts of the NEP. Overall, 761 active injectors were interviewed during the period June 2000–May 2001. Of these 172 (22.6%) reported having difficulty accessing sterile needles. In a multivariate analysis, frequent cocaine injection and bingeing were associated with difficulty accessing needles, whereas residing in the Downtown Eastside was negatively associated with difficulty. When we evaluated IDU''s reasons for difficulty with access, the most common reasons given were the operating hours of the NEP, difficulty meeting the needle exchange van, being away from the area where needles are exchanged, and being refused sterile needles at pharmacies. These findings suggest that programmatic deficiencies related to the operation of the needle exchange and refusal of pharmacists to sell needles may be primary factors related to difficulty accessing needles. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Deals with a study which described the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics and the geographic distribution of persons with HIV in the metropolitan area surrounding Vancouver, British Columbia. Background to the study; Methods; Results; Discussion.