Slower uptake of HIV antiretroviral therapy among Aboriginal injection drug users.
OBJECTIVE
We examined the time to antiretroviral therapy (ART) use among antiretroviral naïve HIV infected injection drug users participating in a prospective cohort study in Vancouver, Canada.


METHODS
Time to the initiation of ART was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier methods and Cox proportional hazards regression. The cohort was stratified based on Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal (primarily Caucasian) ethnicity.


RESULTS
Between May 1996 and May 2003, 312 HIV-infected individuals were enrolled into the cohort. At 24 months after enrollment, the rate of ART use was 29.2% among Aboriginal participants and was 53.7% among non-Aboriginal participants (log-rank P=0.023), and lower uptake of ART persisted in multivariate analyses (relative hazard = 0.37 [95% CI: 0.15-0.93]; P = 0.035).


CONCLUSIONS
These findings demonstrate lower uptake of HIV/AIDS care among Aboriginal injection drug users and demonstrate the need for interventions to improve access to HIV care among indigenous populations.
Wood
Evan
E
British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada. ewood@cfenet.ubc.ca
Kerr
Thomas
T
Palepu
Anita
A
Zhang
Ruth
R
Strathdee
Steffanie A
SA
Tyndall
Mark W
MW
Montaner
Julio S G
JS
Hogg
Robert S
RS
D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001955:British Columbia; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D007198:Indians, North American; D008297:Male; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000150:complications*; D013997:Time Factors
D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents