title: Outpatient medical care of injection drug use related HIV.
abstract: By the end of March 1990 470 HIV positive patients, 77% injection drug use (IDU) related, had attended the outpatient department of the Regional Infectious Disease Unit with a cumulative loss to follow-up of only 20%. Coincident with the prescribing of oral methadone and a specific all-day IDU-related HIV medical clinic the total number of appointments increased from 28/month in May 1986 to 300/month in May 1989 (P less than 0.001) and the number of defaulted appointments decreased from a maximum of 60% (17/28) to 16% (48/294, P less than 0.001) in these months. There was a significant initial increase in the number of defaulted appointments for the infectious disease (ID) clinics from 11% (77/726) to 16% (124/797, P less than 0.01) which returned to previous levels once a specific IDU-related HIV clinic was established. There was also a significant decline in the number of new patients referred which was greater for the urinary tract infection clinics (108 to 56 per 6 months, P less than 0.0001) than for the ID clinics (119 to 88 per 6 months, P less than 0.05).
authors.affiliation: Regional Infectious Disease Unit, City Hospital, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Brettle
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Gore
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McNeil
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D015497:HIV-1; D006302:Health Services Research; D006786:Hospitals, Urban; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008691:Methadone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008875:Middle Aged; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012606:Scotland / Q000453:epidemiology; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D008691:Methadone