Psychosocial and Demographic Correlates of Drug Use in a Sample of HIV-Positive Adults Ages 50 and Older

Abstract

The prevalence of HIV among adults 50 and older in the USA is increasing as a result of improvements in treatment and detection of HIV infection. Substance use by this population has implications for physical and mental health outcomes. We examined patterns of demographics, mental health, and recent substance use in a diverse sample of heterosexual, bisexual, and gay adults 50 and older living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in New York City. The most commonly used substances were cigarettes or alcohol; however, the majority of the sample did not report recent use of marijuana, poppers, or hard drugs (crystal methamphetamine, cocaine, crack, heroin, ecstasy, GHB, ketamine, and LSD or PCP). Statistically significant associations between substance use and psychological states (well-being and loneliness) were generally weak, and depression scores were not significantly related to use; instead, drug use was associated with gender/sexual orientation. The study observations support addressing substance use specific to subpopulations within PLWHA.

Healthy Aging in Older Women Living with HIV Infection: a Systematic Review of Psychosocial Factors

“…This study reported that, as compared to female, male gender increased the odds of illicit drug use in the past 60 days in the unadjusted (OR = 2.93, p < 0.01) but not in the adjusted analyses. An earlier mentioned study by Siconolfi et al [30] also found significantly lower percentage of drinking, drug use, and smoking in the past 3 days among OWLH than heterosexual OMLH.…”

“…Overall, there is a paucity of research, and especially longitudinal studies, examining either the determinants or effects of psychosocial issues among OWLH. There is a similar scarcity of studies examining specific mental health challenges—while some deal with stress and/or depression [20•, 22, 33] and substance use [26, 30, 32, 38], we found the lack of research on other disorders, such as anxiety or PTSD.…”

“…This study also found no significant gender difference on average loneliness scores. However, in a study of psychosocial and demographic correlates of drug use among 208 OWLH and 603 OMLH, Siconolfi et al [30] found that heterosexual men reported higher loneliness than heterosexual women and MSM based on ANOVA analyses ( F (2, 801) = 7.02, p = .001).…”

“…Siconolfi et al [30] and Storholm et al [33] conducted research on the same sample of ROAH participants, measured depression on the CES-D scale [42], and found no significant gender differences. However, Brennan et al [20•] used a large sample of OCS study participants and reported that OWLH had higher CES-D total and affective scores than OMLH ( p < .001).…”

“…Siconolfi et al [30] found that heterosexual OWLH reported higher self-acceptance and higher positive relations with others than heterosexual OMLH; women also showed higher purpose in life and environmental mastery than both heterosexual men and MSM. Golub et al [24•], on the other hand, examined the effects of well-being and found that higher well-being was associated with practicing protected sex for both OWLH and OMLH, but the relevant subscales differed for each group.…”