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A Randomized Trial Comparing Brief Advice and Motivational Interviewing for Persons with HIV–HCV Co-infection Who Drink Alcohol

AIDS and Behavior volume 25, pages 1013–1025 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

Alcohol use contributes to the progression of liver disease in HIV–HCV co-infected persons, but alcohol interventions have never addressed low levels of alcohol use in this population. We enrolled 110 persons consuming at least 4 alcoholic drinks weekly in a clinical trial comparing two active 18-month long interventions, delivered every 3 months by phone, brief advice about drinking versus a motivational intervention. Final assessment was at 24 months. MI had larger reductions in alcohol use days than the BA arm at all follow-up assessments. The treatment by time effect was not significant for days of drinking (p = 0.470), mean drinks per day (p = 0.155), or for the continuous FIB-4 index (p = 0.175). Drinking declined in both conditions from baseline, but given the small sample, we do not have sufficient data to make any conclusion that one treatment is superior to the other.

Trial Registry Trial registered at clinicaltrials.gov; Clinical Trial NCT02316184.

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Funding

This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health RO1 AA023726.

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Affiliations

  1. Behavioral Medicine and Addictions Research, Butler Hospital, Providence, RI, USA

    Michael D. Stein, Debra S. Herman, Claire E. Blevins & Bradley J. Anderson

  2. Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

    Debra S. Herman, Ethan Moitra, Claire E. Blevins & Megan M. Pinkston

  3. Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    H. Nina Kim & Abigail Howell

  4. Department of Health Law, Policy & Management, Boston University School of Public Health, 715 Albany Street, Boston, MA, 02118, USA

    Michael D. Stein & Audrey Lambert

  5. University of Rhode Island, Providence, RI, USA

    Lynn E. Taylor

  6. The Miriam Hospital, Providence, RI, USA

    Stephanie Madden & Megan M. Pinkston

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  1. Michael D. Stein
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  2. Debra S. Herman
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Correspondence to Michael D. Stein.

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Conflict of interest

Dr. Stein received $7000 from Alkermes, Inc to review grants for the Young Investigator Research Program.

Ethical Approval

The questionnaires, interventions, and methodology for this study were approved by the Institutional Review Boards of the funding site and each recruitment site.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Stein, M.D., Herman, D.S., Kim, H.N. et al. A Randomized Trial Comparing Brief Advice and Motivational Interviewing for Persons with HIV–HCV Co-infection Who Drink Alcohol. AIDS Behav 25, 1013–1025 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-020-03062-2

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Keywords

  • HIV–HCV co-infection
  • Alcohol use
  • FIB-4
  • Motivational intervention
  • Brief advice