Associations of Intimate Partner Violence and Drug Use on Viral Suppression Among Women Living With HIV in South Florida: A Secondary Analysis.
Caroline Deaterly, Veronica Richards, Michael Weaver and 4 others
PMID 38417080WHAT IT FOUND
Having both recent intimate partner violence and drug use did not show a clear difference in HIV viral load above 200 copies/mL among 194 women living with HIV who reported heavy drinking.
Rates were highest in women with both, but no clear link was found.
Key findings
01The combination of recent intimate partner violence and drug use was not significantly associated with sub-optimal viral suppression compared with reporting neither.
02Sub-optimal viral suppression was highest among women reporting both drug use and recent intimate partner violence, followed by women reporting drug use alone, but the differences were not statistically significant.
03In the sample, 40% reported drug use other than alcohol in the past 30 days, 14% reported recent intimate partner violence in the past 12 months, and 36% were sub-optimally virally suppressed.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The analysis was secondary and used baseline data from a small sample of 194 women in Miami, Florida, so the findings may not apply to women living with HIV elsewhere. All participants reported heavy drinking and voluntarily joined a parent trial intended to reduce drinking, which may have affected self-reported IPV and drug use and viral suppression. The sample was mostly Black/African American and had high rates of unemployment and less than high school education, limiting comparison with other groups. The IPV measure was a 3-item screen that had low internal consistency in this sample, with a Cronbach alpha of 0.44. The study was not designed to test whether IPV screening, education, or resources improve viral suppression.
Declared interests
The article is listed as supported by NIH extramural research. The authors report no real or perceived vested interests related to the article.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that IPV and drug use do not matter for viral suppression. This was a small secondary analysis, and although rates were highest in women with both, the study did not find a statistically significant difference.