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Prevalence and patterns of illicit drug use in people with human immunodeficiency virus infection in Korea

BACKGROUND: Data on illicit drug use by Korean people infected with HIV are lacking. Here, we examined the prevalence and patterns of illicit drug use among people infected with HIV in Korea. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, we included all patients infected with HIV who visited...

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Autores principales: Lee, Soon Ok, Lee, Jeong Eun, Lee, Shinwon, Lee, Sun Hee, Kang, Jin Suk
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8016334/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33793637
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249361
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author Lee, Soon Ok
Lee, Jeong Eun
Lee, Shinwon
Lee, Sun Hee
Kang, Jin Suk
author_facet Lee, Soon Ok
Lee, Jeong Eun
Lee, Shinwon
Lee, Sun Hee
Kang, Jin Suk
author_sort Lee, Soon Ok
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Data on illicit drug use by Korean people infected with HIV are lacking. Here, we examined the prevalence and patterns of illicit drug use among people infected with HIV in Korea. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, we included all patients infected with HIV who visited a tertiary care hospital in Korea from January 1990 to May 2020. Sociodemographic data of patients, including drug use, were collected at the first visit and during follow-up. RESULTS: Among 1,267 patients, 5.13% reported the use of an illicit drug in their lifetime, and 2.61% were users of injection drugs. The most commonly used drugs were cannabis/marijuana and methamphetamine, followed by nitrite inhalants, cocaine, dextromethorphan, carisoprodol, and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine. The illicit drug users tended to be younger than non-users, homosexuals/bisexuals, and infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV); they had a higher CD4(+) cell count than non-users. Among 65 users of illicit drugs, only 24.6% revealed their drug use at the first visit interview, and 24.6% reported using two or more drugs in their lifetime. Individuals who used injection drugs were more likely to be arrested for drug-related charges than the users of non-injection drugs. Moreover, they tended to be heavy users of illicit drugs, to report using two or more drugs in their lifetime, and to be HCV seropositive. In contrast, the users of non-injection drugs were more likely to be experimental users and to start using drugs overseas for the first time, but less likely to report their drug use at the first interview. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of illicit drug use in people with HIV infection in Korea may have been underestimated. Further research based on more accurate measurements are warranted.
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spelling pubmed-80163342021-04-08 Prevalence and patterns of illicit drug use in people with human immunodeficiency virus infection in Korea Lee, Soon Ok Lee, Jeong Eun Lee, Shinwon Lee, Sun Hee Kang, Jin Suk PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Data on illicit drug use by Korean people infected with HIV are lacking. Here, we examined the prevalence and patterns of illicit drug use among people infected with HIV in Korea. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, we included all patients infected with HIV who visited a tertiary care hospital in Korea from January 1990 to May 2020. Sociodemographic data of patients, including drug use, were collected at the first visit and during follow-up. RESULTS: Among 1,267 patients, 5.13% reported the use of an illicit drug in their lifetime, and 2.61% were users of injection drugs. The most commonly used drugs were cannabis/marijuana and methamphetamine, followed by nitrite inhalants, cocaine, dextromethorphan, carisoprodol, and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine. The illicit drug users tended to be younger than non-users, homosexuals/bisexuals, and infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV); they had a higher CD4(+) cell count than non-users. Among 65 users of illicit drugs, only 24.6% revealed their drug use at the first visit interview, and 24.6% reported using two or more drugs in their lifetime. Individuals who used injection drugs were more likely to be arrested for drug-related charges than the users of non-injection drugs. Moreover, they tended to be heavy users of illicit drugs, to report using two or more drugs in their lifetime, and to be HCV seropositive. In contrast, the users of non-injection drugs were more likely to be experimental users and to start using drugs overseas for the first time, but less likely to report their drug use at the first interview. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of illicit drug use in people with HIV infection in Korea may have been underestimated. Further research based on more accurate measurements are warranted. Public Library of Science 2021-04-01 /pmc/articles/PMC8016334/ /pubmed/33793637 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249361 Text en © 2021 Lee et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Lee, Soon Ok
Lee, Jeong Eun
Lee, Shinwon
Lee, Sun Hee
Kang, Jin Suk
Prevalence and patterns of illicit drug use in people with human immunodeficiency virus infection in Korea
title Prevalence and patterns of illicit drug use in people with human immunodeficiency virus infection in Korea
title_full Prevalence and patterns of illicit drug use in people with human immunodeficiency virus infection in Korea
title_fullStr Prevalence and patterns of illicit drug use in people with human immunodeficiency virus infection in Korea
title_full_unstemmed Prevalence and patterns of illicit drug use in people with human immunodeficiency virus infection in Korea
title_short Prevalence and patterns of illicit drug use in people with human immunodeficiency virus infection in Korea
title_sort prevalence and patterns of illicit drug use in people with human immunodeficiency virus infection in korea
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8016334/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33793637
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249361
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