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Changes in drug use are associated with health-related quality of life improvements among methadone maintenance patients with HIV/AIDS

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Abstract

Purpose

This longitudinal study assessed the changes in drug use patterns and health-related quality of life (HRQL) among HIV-positive drug users in the first methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) cohort in Vietnam.

Methods

A secondary analysis was conducted on 370 HIV-positive drug users (age: mean ± SD: 29.5 ± 5.9 years; 95.7% men). Modified WHOQOL-BREF, self-report, and opioid confirmatory urine tests were used to assess HRQL and drug use behaviours at baseline, 3, 6, and 9 months. Generalized estimating equations (GEE) models were constructed to adjust for intra-individual correlations.

Results

MMT response rate after 9 months was 89.9%. Rates of positive heroin urine tests rapidly decreased at the first trimester (18.1%) and then stabilized during the next 2 trimesters (11.8 and 14.4%). Among patients with continued drug use, frequency of use decreased from 3.4 to 0.7 time/day. Improvements in HRQL were large over the course of the study and highest in the psychological domain. Adjusting for propensity score in GEE models, ongoing heroin use during MMT resulted in large decrements in all HRQL domains.

Conclusions

MMT improved the outcomes of treatment for drug users in ways that might facilitate success of antiretroviral therapy. Integrating MMT to HIV care and treatment services could be beneficial in injection-driven HIV epidemics in resource-scare settings.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to acknowledge the Vietnam Administration of HIV/AIDS Control (VAAC), Ministry of Health for their approval on secondary data use. We also acknowledge Dr Tran Vu Hoang, Dr Tran Thi Thanh Ha (Family Health International (FHI), Vietnam), Dr Masaya Kato, and Dr David Jacka (WHO, Vietnam) for valuable comments. We offer special thanks to programme officers at VAAC and FHI for their data management support. We greatly appreciate the constructive comments from anonymous reviewers and the cooperation of all study participants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1-42, Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Alberta, 8303, 112 Street, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2T4, Canada

    Bach Xuan Tran, Arto Ohinmaa & Stan Houston

  2. Institute for Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Hanoi Medical University, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Bach Xuan Tran

  3. Institute of Health Economics, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Arto Ohinmaa & Philip Jacobs

  4. Administration of HIV/AIDS Control, Ministry of Health, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Anh Thuy Duong, Nhan Thi Do & Long Thanh Nguyen

  5. Family Health International, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Quoc Cuong Nguyen & Steve Mills

  6. Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Philip Jacobs & Stan Houston

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  1. Bach Xuan Tran
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Correspondence to Bach Xuan Tran.

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Tran, B.X., Ohinmaa, A., Duong, A.T. et al. Changes in drug use are associated with health-related quality of life improvements among methadone maintenance patients with HIV/AIDS. Qual Life Res 21, 613–623 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-011-9963-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-011-9963-y

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