Prison-Based Interventions for Early Adults with Mental Health Needs: A Systematic Review.

Rates of mental health needs of incarcerated young adults (15-35 year olds) are concerning, however, mental health interventions targeting this population are under studied. This article systematically reviews published, peer-reviewed research in nine databases pertaining to mental health interventions for incarcerated young adults. Only original studies conducted in the United States and determined to be valid though NIH assessment tools were included in this analysis. The review includes 19 original studies testing 14 intervention programs exploring mental health outcomes such as depression, PTSD, self-harm, and bipolar symptoms. Overall, findings were mixed about the impact of reviewed programs. The variety of interventions, outcomes, study settings, and implementation procedures complicates the ability to determine the impact of mental health programming in carceral settings. This review also reveals the lack of depth and replication of research in this area. Findings suggest additional efforts are needed to establish efficacy and best practices when treating mental health needs among this population.

Using Pharmacies in a Structural Intervention to Distribute Low Dead Space Syringes to Reduce HIV and HCV Transmission in People Who Inject Drugs.

Ongoing injection drug use contributes to the HIV and HCV epidemics in people who inject drugs. In many places, pharmacies are the primary source of sterile syringes for people who inject drugs; thus, pharmacies provide a viable public health service that reduces blood-borne disease transmission. Replacing the supply of high dead space syringes with low dead space syringes could have far-reaching benefits that include further prevention of disease transmission in people who inject drugs and reductions in dosing inaccuracies, medication errors, and medication waste in patients who use syringes. We explored using pharmacies in a structural intervention to increase the uptake of low dead space syringes as part of a comprehensive strategy to reverse these epidemics.

Engagement in outpatient care for persons living with HIV in the United States.

Prior studies that have assessed engagement within the various stages of care for persons living with HIV (PLWH) studied patients receiving care in HIV medical care facilities. These data are not representative of care received throughout the United States, as not all PLWH receive care in HIV clinics. This study evaluated engagement in outpatient care and healthcare utilization for PLWH, beyond facilities that specialize in HIV. Cross-sectional data were from the 2009-2010 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. Levels of care included receiving any care, receiving HIV-related care, established in care, engaged in care, and prescribed antiretroviral therapy (ARV). Factors associated with ARV prescription were determined by logistic regression. We analyzed data for ∼2.6 million outpatient clinic visits for PLWH. Of these, 90% were receiving HIV-related care, 86% were established in care, 75% were engaged in care, and 65% were prescribed ARV. In stratified analysis, the proportion of PWLH who were engaged in care varied by race/ethnicity (p<0.001) and ARV prescription varied significantly across the three age groups (p=0.004). Clinic visits within the past year did not differ for those prescribed ARV vs. not prescribed ARV [median, IQR=3.3 visits (1.8-5.6) vs. 3.6 visits (1.3-5.9); p=0.7]. Seeing a physician was associated with ARV prescription (OR=0.27, 95% CI=0.15-0.51), whereas routine engagement in care was not associated with ARV prescription (OR=0.99, 95% CI=0.96-1.03). Given that non-ARV-treated PLWH utilized outpatient care services at rates similar to ARV-treated PLWH, these routine clinic visits are missed opportunities for increasing ARV prescription in untreated patients.

National trends in hospitalization and mortality rates for patients with HIV, HCV, or HIV/HCV coinfection from 1996-2010 in the United States: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: The comparative impact of chronic viral monoinfection versus coinfection on inpatient outcomes and health care utilization is relatively unknown. This study examined trends, inpatient utilization, and hospital outcomes for patients with HIV, HCV, or HIV/HCV coinfection. METHODS: Data were from the 1996-2010 National Hospital Discharge Surveys. Hospitalizations with primary ICD-9-CM codes for HIV or HCV were included for HIV and HCV monoinfection, respectfully. Coinfection included both HIV and HCV codes. Demographic characteristics, select comorbidities, procedural interventions, average hospital length of stay (LOS), and discharge status were compared by infection status (HIV, HCV, HIV/HCV). Annual disease estimates and survey weights were used to generate hospitalization rates. RESULTS: ~6.6 million hospitalizations occurred in patients with HIV (39%), HCV (56%), or HIV/HCV (5%). The hospitalization rate (hospitalizations per 100 persons with infection) decreased in the HIV group (29.8 in 1996; 5.3 in 2010), decreased in the HIV/HCV group (2.0 in 1996; 1.5 in 2010), yet increased in the HCV group (0.2 in 1996; 0.9 in 2010). Median LOS from 1996 to 2010 (days, interquartile range) decreased in all groups: HIV, 6 (3-10) to 4 (3-8); HCV, 5 (3-9) to 4 (2-6); HIV/HCV, 6 (4-11) to 4 (2-7). Age-adjusted mortality rates decreased for all three groups. The rate of decline was least pronounced for those with HCV monoinfection. CONCLUSION: Hospitalizations have declined more rapidly for patients with HIV infection (including HIV/HCV coinfection) than for patients with HCV infection. This growing disparity between HIV and HCV underscores the need to allocate more resources to HCV care in hopes that similar large-scale improvements can also be accomplished for patients with HCV.

Differences in outpatient care and treatment utilization for patients with HIV/HCV coinfection, HIV, and HCV monoinfection, a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Few studies have explored how utilization of outpatient services differ for HIV/HCV coinfected patients compared to HIV or HCV monoinfected patients. The objectives of this study were to (1) compare annual outpatient clinic visit rates between coinfected and monoinfected patients, (2) to compare utilization of HIV and HCV therapies between coinfected and monoinfected patients, and (3) to identify factors associated with therapy utilization. METHODS: Data were from the 2005-2010 U.S. National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys. Clinic visits with a primary or secondary ICD-9-CM codes for HIV or HCV were included. Coinfection included visits with codes for both HIV and HCV. Monoinfection only included codes for HIV or HCV, exclusively. Patients <15 years of age at time of visit were excluded. Predictors of HIV and HCV therapy were determined by logistic regressions. Visits were computed using survey weights. RESULTS: 3,021 visits (11,352,000 weighted visits) met study criteria for patients with HIV/HCV (8%), HIV (70%), or HCV (22%). The HCV subgroup was older in age and had the highest proportion of females and whites as compared to the HIV/HCV and HIV subgroups. Comorbidities varied significantly across the three subgroups (HIV/HCV, HIV, HCV): current tobacco use (40%, 27%, 30%), depression (32%, 23%, 24%), diabetes (9%, 10%, 17%), and chronic renal failure (<1%, 3%, 5%), (p < 0.001 for all variables). Annual visit rates were highest in those with HIV, followed by HIV/HCV, but consistently lower in those with HCV. HIV therapy utilization increased for both HIV/HCV and HIV subgroups. HCV therapy utilization remained low for both HIV/HCV and HCV subgroups for all years. Coinfection was an independent predictor of HIV therapy, but not of HCV therapy. CONCLUSION: There is a critical need for system-level interventions that reduce barriers to outpatient care and improve uptake of HCV therapy for patients with HIV/HCV coinfection.