The prevalence of alcohol use disorders among people living with HIV/AIDS: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is common among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and associated with a greater risk of poor medication adherence, unsafe sexual behaviors as well as poor quality of life. To our knowledge, there is no previous systematic review and meta-analysis that reported the pooled prevalence estimate of AUD among PLWHA. Therefore, this review aimed to systematically review the available studies on the prevalence of AUD among PLWHA and forward possible recommendations for future clinical practice and research. METHODS: PubMed, EMBASE, Psych INFO and SCOPUS databases were searched to identify the relevant studies. We have also scanned the reference lists of the eligible studies to supplement our electronic search. We used the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software versions 3.0 to conduct a meta-analysis. Subgroup and sensitivity analysis were performed and Cochran’s Q- and the I(2)- test were employed to see the heterogeneity. The presence of publication bias was explored by utilizing Egger’s test and visual inspection of the symmetry in funnel plots. RESULTS: A total of 25 studies with 25,154 participants across developed and developing countries were included in the final analysis. Our meta-analysis revealed that the pooled prevalence estimate of AUD among PLWHA was found to be 29.80% (95% CI; 24.10–35.76). The prevalence of AUD was higher in males (26.90%) than female (13.37%) HIV patients. In this study, the pooled prevalence of AUD was considerably higher (31.52%) when measured by Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) as compared to Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) (13.51%). In addition, the pooled prevalence of AUD was higher in the developed countries (42.09%) while lower for developing countries (24.52%). CONCLUSION: In the current study, the pooled prevalence estimates of AUD among PLWHA was considerably high (29.80%). Screening and appropriate management of AUD among PLWHA are recommended.