Characteristics of Adults With Diagnosed HIV Who Experienced Housing Instability: Findings From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Medical Monitoring Project, United States, 2018.
Ruthanne Marcus, Yunfeng Tie, Sharoda Dasgupta and 4 others
PMID 34812797WHAT IT FOUND
Among adults with diagnosed HIV, 21% were unstably housed.
Even without homelessness, unstable housing was linked to lower likelihood of staying in care, lower medication adherence, lower viral suppression, and more depression or anxiety.
Key findings
01Twenty-one percent of adults with diagnosed HIV were unstably housed in the past 12 months.
02Unstable housing, including unstable housing without homelessness, was associated with lower retention in care, lower ART dose adherence, and lower sustained viral suppression.
03Unstable housing was associated with more symptoms of depression and generalized anxiety disorder.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Housing status and many social measures were self-reported, so answers may have been affected by a desire to answer acceptably. Housing was measured for the 12 months before the interview, so it does not show current housing or when instability occurred. The data are cross-sectional, so the study cannot show whether housing instability led to worse outcomes or whether worse outcomes led to housing instability. The response rate was 45%, although the analysis adjusted for nonresponse and used weights.
Declared interests
The authors reported no real or perceived vested interests related to this article that could be construed as a conflict of interest. The study used CDC Medical Monitoring Project data, a public health surveillance activity, and the article lists non-U.S. government research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read housing instability as proof it caused poorer HIV care or mental health. The study measured housing and outcomes at the same time and cannot show which came first.