In the pre-highly active antiretroviral therapy era, HIV-infected patients frequently initiated primary medical care years after initial infection, at a time of advanced immunosuppression. Over one-third of HIV-infected patients were not cognisant of their HIV risk before testing, a condition significantly associated with heterosexual intercourse as the only HIV risk behavior.

BackgroundAlthough back pain is the most common reason patients use complementary and alternative medical (CAM) therapies, little is known about the willingness of primary care back pain patients to try these therapies. As part of an effort to refine recruitment strategies for clinical trials, we sought to determine if back pain patients are willing to try acupuncture, chiropractic, massage, meditation, and t'ai chi and to learn about their knowledge of, experience with, and perceptions about each of these therapies.MethodsWe identified English-speaking patients with diagnoses consistent with chronic low back pain using automated visit data from one health care organization in Boston and another in Seattle. We were able to confirm the eligibility status (i.e., current low back pain that had lasted at least 3 months) of 70% of the patients with such diagnoses and all eligible respondents were interviewed.ResultsExcept for chiropractic, knowledge about these therapies was low. Chiropractic and massage had been used by the largest fractions of respondents (54% and 38%, respectively), mostly for back pain (45% and 24%, respectively). Among prior users of specific CAM therapies for back pain, massage was rated most helpful. Users of chiropractic reported treatment-related "significant discomfort, pain or harm" more often (23%) than users of other therapies (5–16%). Respondents expected massage would be most helpful (median of 7 on a 0 to 10 scale) and meditation least helpful (median of 3) in relieving their current pain. Most respondents indicated they would be "very likely" to try acupuncture, massage, or chiropractic for their back pain if they did not have to pay out of pocket and their physician thought it was a reasonable treatment option.ConclusionsMost patients with chronic back pain in our sample were interested in trying therapeutic options that lie outside the conventional medical spectrum. This highlights the need for additional studies evaluating their effectiveness and suggests that researchers conducting clinical trials of these therapies may not have difficulties recruiting patients.

This study examines the relationship between a history of physical and sexual abuse (PhySexAbuse) and drug and alcohol related consequences. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of data from 359 male and 111 female subjects recruited from an inpatient detoxification unit. The Inventory of Drug Use Consequences (InDUC), measured negative life consequences of substance use. Eighty-one percent of women and 69% of men report past PhySexAbuse, starting at a median age of 13 and 11, respectively. In bivariate and multivariable analyses, PhySexAbuse was significantly associated with more substance abuse consequences ( p < 0.001). For men, age ≤ 17 years at first PhySexAbuse was significantly associated with more substance abuse consequences than an older age at first abuse, or no abuse ( p = 0.048). For women, the association of PhySexAbuse with substance use consequences was similar across all ages ( p = 0.59). Future research should develop interventions to lessen the substance abuse consequences of physical and sexual abuse.

OBJECTIVE:To assess the extent to which perceptions of specific aspects of the doctor-patient relationship are related to overall satisfaction with primary care physicians among HIV-infected patients. DESIGN: MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS:The primary outcome measure was patient-reported satisfaction with a primary care physician measured 6 months after initiating primary HIV care. Patients who were more comfortable discussing personal issues with their physicians ( P ‫؍‬ .021), who perceived their primary care physicians as more empathetic ( P ‫؍‬ .001), and who perceived their primary care physicians as more knowledgeable with respect to HIV ( P ‫؍‬ .002) were significantly more satisfied with their primary care physicians, adjusted for characteristics of the patient and characteristics of primary care. Collectively, specific aspects of the doctorpatient relationship explained 56% of the variation in overall satisfaction with the primary care physician. CONCLUSIONS: