Background: Aboriginals are overrepresented in Canada’s HIV epidemic and are more likely to be infected with HIV through injection drug use (IDU) than non-Aboriginals. However, little research has investigated the outcomes of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) among Aboriginal HIV-patients or compared outcomes between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal HIV-patients.
Objectives: The primary objectives of this research were to 1) compare all-cause and HIV-related mortality rates between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal HIV-patients after they start cART, 2) determine if Aboriginal patients were less likely to achieve virological suppression and more likely to experience subsequent treatment failure after starting cART; 3) describe and compare the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal HIV-patients; and 4) describe the life stability of Aboriginal and IDU HIV-patients treated with cART and explore associations between life stability, clinical status, and HRQL.
Methods: This research was conducted in northern Alberta, Canada using a clinical database, vital statistics data, and data collected through interview and a self-administered HRQL questionnaire. Data analyses included multivariable Cox proportional hazards models and multiple linear and logistic regression models.
Results: After starting cART, Aboriginals suffer higher rates of all-cause and HIV-related mortality than non-Aboriginals. Furthermore, Aboriginals are less likely to achieve virological suppression after starting cART and, among those who achieve suppression, Aboriginals experience higher rates of virological failure ≥1 year after suppression. Aboriginal IDUs, Aboriginal non-IDUs, and non-Aboriginal IDUs reported similarly worse physical HRQL compared to non-Aboriginals non-IDUs. Among Aboriginals and IDUs, factors significantly associated with poor clinical status were unemployment, lower income, not completing high school, homelessness, and perceiving that one’s current life was not much better compared to before starting cART. Similarly, factors significantly associated with lower HRQL in this group were unemployment, perceiving that one’s current health or one’s current life was not much better compared to before starting cART, and having a current CD4 cell count ≤350 cells/μL.
Conclusions: Overall, after starting cART, Aboriginal HIV-patients suffer worse outcomes than non-Aboriginal HIV-patients. Future research should investigate adherence among Aboriginals and IDUs treated with cART and explore their treatment experiences to develop interventions to improve the prognosis of these vulnerable populations.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:AEU.10048/574 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Martin, Leah J. |
| Contributors | L. Duncan Saunders, Public Health Sciences, Stan Houston, Medicine, L. Duncan Saunders, Public Health Sciences, Stan Houston, Medicine, Yutaka Yasui, Public Health Sciences, T. Cameron Wild, Centre for Health Promotion Studies, Walter Kipp, Public Health Sciences, Ambikaipakan Senthilselvan, Public Health Sciences, M. John Gill, Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, University of Calgary |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 1022225 bytes, application/pdf |
| Relation | Martin LJ et al. (2008) http://www.iasociety.org/Default.aspx?pageId=11&abstractId=200716407, Martin LJ et al. (2008) http://www.iasociety.org/Default.aspx?pageId=11&abstractId= 200716408, Martin LJ et al. Can J Infect Dis Med Microbiol 2009;20(Suppl SB):40B-41B., Martin LJ et al. Can J Infect Dis Med Microbiol 2009;20(Supp SB):40B., Martin LJ et al. Can J Infect Dis Med Microbiol 2007;18(Supp B):17B. |
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