Treatment Initiation, Substance Use Trajectories, and the Social Determinants of Health in Persons Living With HIV Seeking Medication for Opioid Use Disorder.

BACKGROUND: People living with HIV and opioid use disorder (OUD) are disproportionally affected by adverse socio-structural exposures negatively affecting health, which have shown inconsistent associations with uptake of medications for OUD (MOUD). This study aimed to determine whether social determinants of health (SDOH) were associated with MOUD uptake and trajectories of substance use in a clinical trial of people seeking treatment. METHODS: Data are from a 2018 to 2019 randomized trial comparing the effectiveness of different MOUD to achieve viral suppression among people living with HIV and OUD. SDOH were defined by variables mapping to Healthy People 2030 domains: education (Education Access and Quality), income (Economic Stability), homelessness (Neighborhood and Built Environment), criminal justice involvement (Social and Community Context), and recent SUD care (Health Care Access and Quality). Associations between SDOH and MOUD initiation were assessed with Cox proportional hazards models, and SDOH and substance use over time with generalized estimating equation models. RESULTS: Participants (N = 114) averaged 47 years old, 63% were male, 56% were Black, and 12% Hispanic. Participants reported an average of 2.3 out of 5 positive SDOH indicators (SD = 1.2). Stable housing was the most commonly reported SDOH (61%), followed by no recent criminal justice involvement (59%), having a high-school level education or greater (56%), income stability (45%), and recent SUD care (13%). Each additional favorable SDOH was associated with a 25% increase in the likelihood of MOUD initiation during the study period [adjusted HR = 1.25, 95% CI = (1.01, 1.55), P = .044]. Positive SDOH were also associated with a decrease in the odds of baseline opioid use and a greater reduction in opioid use during subsequent weeks of the study (P < .001 for a joint test of baseline and slope differences). CONCLUSIONS: Positive social determinants of health, in aggregate, may increase the likelihood of MOUD treatment initiation among people living with HIV and OUD.

Trends In Outpatient Mental Health Services Use Before And During The COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted mental health services delivery across the US, but the extent and implications of these disruptions are unclear. This retrospective observational analysis used the claims clearinghouse Office Ally to compare outpatient mental health services use from March to December 2016-18 against use during the same period in 2020. We identified encounters for people ages twelve and older with primary diagnosis codes corresponding to mental health conditions and categorized encounters as in-person or telehealth, using Current Procedural Terminology and place-of-service codes. In-person mental health encounters were reduced by half in the early months of the pandemic, with rapid recovery of service delivery attributable to telehealth uptake (accounting for 47.9 percent of average monthly encounters). We found variation in the degree to which telehealth use increased across groups: People with schizophrenia made up a lower proportion of telehealth encounters relative to in-person visits (1.7 percent versus 2.7 percent), whereas those with anxiety and fear-related disorders accounted for a higher proportion (27.5 percent versus 25.5 percent). These findings highlight the importance of broadening access to services through new modalities without supplanting necessary in-person care for certain groups.