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Risk factors for elevated HIV incidence among Aboriginal injection drug users in Vancouver

From the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital (all authors), and the Departments of Health Care and Epidemiology (Craib, Spittal, Wood, Hogg, Heath, Tyndall and Schechter) and of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (O'Shaughnessy), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.

Correspondence to: Dr. Patricia Spittal, BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital, 608–1081 Burrard St., Vancouver BC V6Z 1Y6; fax 604 806-9044; pspittal{at}hivnet.ubc.ca

Background: Because of established links between entrenched poverty and risk of HIV infection, there have long been warnings that HIV/AIDS will disproportionately affect Aboriginal people in Canada. We compared HIV incidence rates among Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal injection drug users (IDUs) in Vancouver and studied factors associated with HIV seroconversion among Aboriginal participants.

Methods: This analysis was based on 941 participants (230 Aboriginal people) recruited between May 1996 and December 2000 who were seronegative at enrolment and had completed at least one follow-up visit. Incidence rates were calculated using the Kaplan–Meier method. The Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to identify independent predictors of time to HIV seroconversion among female and male Aboriginal IDUs.

Results: As of May 31, 2001, seroconversion had occurred in 112 (11.9%) of the participants, yielding a cumulative incidence of HIV infection at 42 months of 12.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] 10.3%–15.1%). The cumulative incidence at 42 months was significantly higher among the Aboriginal participants than among the non-Aboriginal participants (21.1% v. 10.7%, p < 0.001). This elevation in risk was present in both female and male Aboriginal IDUs. Among the female Aboriginal IDUs, frequent speedball (combined cocaine and heroin) injection (adjusted relative risk [RR] 3.1; 95% CI 1.4–7.1) and going on binges of injection drug use (adjusted RR 2.3; 95% CI 1.0–5.2) were found to be independent predictors of HIV seroconversion. Among the male Aboriginal IDUs, the independent predictors of seroconversion were frequent speedball injection (adjusted RR 2.9; 95% CI 1.0–8.5) and frequent cocaine injection (adjusted RR 2.5; 95% CI 1.0–6.5).

Interpretation: In Vancouver, Aboriginal IDUs are becoming HIV positive at twice the rate of non-Aboriginal IDUs. Our findings emphasize the urgent need for an appropriate and effective public health strategy — planned and implemented in partnership with Aboriginal AIDS service organizations and the Aboriginal community — to reduce the harms of injection drug use in this population.

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