HIV, TB, and mental illness in a health clinic for the homeless.
The authors reviewed the medical records of both mentally ill and non-mentally ill patients in a clinic for the homeless population of New Orleans. The records of all psychiatric patients (n = 52) and a randomly selected comparison group (n = 236) of clinic patients without mental illness were chosen for review. Five of the 52 homeless mentally ill who were tested for HIV had a positive test (9.6%), as did 7 of the 129 homeless people without mental illness (5.4%). Regarding TB, only 5 of the 29 mentally ill tested for TB were PPD positive (17.2%), as compared to 34 (29.3%) of the non-mentally ill, a strong trend (r = 0.11, p = 0.09). Differing trends were found regarding HIV and TB in the two homeless groups under study. Further work with a larger sample is needed to determine the factors, if any, which facilitate the spread of HIV and inhibit that of TB.
Townsend
M H
MH
LSU School of Medicine, Dept. of Psychiatry, New Orleans, USA.
Stock
M S
MS
Morse
E V
EV
Simon
P M
PM
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006703:Ill-Housed Persons; D006801:Humans; D008145:Louisiana / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*