Study shows “it get better,” but…

Posted on January 30, 2015 by administrator

A new study released in the Journal of Adolescent Health looked at the lives of 231 LGBTQ adolescents to see if it really does get better–referencing the It Gets Better campaign launched by activist Dan Savage. After following the youth for 3.5 years, researchers at Northwest University in Chicago found that, technically, yes, “it gets better.” But the findings also suggested a more complex set of mental health issues at play for LGBTQ youth. In short, things don’t automatically get better. Early experiences of victimization were shown to have a lasting impact on later psychological functioning. As a result, researchers went on to suggest the need for interventions which decrease stigma and victimization at an early age.

You can read more about the study on Reuters Health.

Study finds H.I.V. drugs priced out of reach

Posted on January 30, 2015 by administrator

From the New York Times…

Drugs to treat H.I.V. and AIDS are being priced out of reach for many patients enrolled in insurance plans through the new health care exchanges, despite warnings that such practices are illegal under the Obama administration’s health care law, according to a new analysis by Harvard researchers.

The study, to be published on Wednesday in an article in The New England Journal of Medicine, looked at 48 health plans in 12 states and found that a quarter of the plans showed evidence of what researchers called “adverse tiering,” or placing all of the drugs used to treat H.I.V. in a specialty tier where consumers are required to pay at least 30 percent of the cost of the drug.

The financial impact can be drastic, the researchers found: A patient taking a common H.I.V. treatment, Atripla, would pay about $3,000 more a year in a restrictive plan compared with someone enrolled in a more generous plan, even after accounting for the fact that the more restrictive plans tended to charge lower monthly premiums.

“That’s really a large cost difference, and really is a very significant financial constraint for those with chronic conditions, particularly H.I.V.,” said Douglas B. Jacobs, the lead author of the study, who is pursuing degrees in public health at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

Continue reading on The New York Times.

10 questions to ask yourself before you begin HIV treatment

Posted on January 27, 2015 by administrator

From thebody.com…

An HIV diagnosis comes with its very own set of questions to ask yourself and decisions to make. Among the biggest is: When should you start treatment? It’s a Russian nesting doll of a decision, with many other questions tucked inside. Here, in no particular order, are 10 of the most important questions to ask yourself before you begin taking HIV medications.

Mental health issues put gay and bi men at increased risk for HIV

Posted on January 18, 2015 by administrator

(Reuters Health) – Gay and bisexual men are at increased risk of acquiring the virus that leads to AIDS if they have mental health problems, according to a new study. What’s more, their risk of acquiring HIV increases with the number of mental health factors they report, researchers found. Past studies have found that mental disorders, ranging from depression to substance abuse, are often seen among men with HIV, but “nothing about whether these factors predict HIV risk behaviors or becoming infected with HIV,” said study leader Matthew Mimiaga, from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that some 1.1 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV. About one case in six is undiagnosed. While the CDC says only about 4 percent of U.S. males have sex with other men, they represent about two-thirds of the country’s new infections. Additionally, it’s known that the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community also suffers from an increased burden of mental health problems.

When two health conditions tend to occur together in one population, researchers call them “syndemic.” For the new study in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, the researchers looked at how five conditions – depression, alcohol abuse, stimulant use, multi-drug abuse and exposure to childhood sexual violence – affect men’s risk of acquiring HIV. They analyzed data on 4,295 men who reported having sex with men within the previous year. The participants were asked about depressive symptoms, heavy alcohol and drug use and childhood sexual abuse.

Read more

CDC annual STD surveillance report: MSM bear a disproportionate burden

Posted on January 12, 2015 by administrator

From the EdgeMediaNetwork…

While anyone can become infected with an STD, certain groups, including young people and gay and bisexual men, are at greatest risk. Gonorrhea and chlamydia primarily affect young people. While surveillance data show signs of potential progress in reducing chlamydia and gonorrhea among young people aged 15-24, both the numbers and rates of reported cases of these two diseases continue to be highest in this group compared to other age groups.

Both young men and young women are heavily affected by STDs, but young women face the most serious long-term health consequences. It is estimated that undiagnosed STDs cause 24,000 women to become infertile each year. The other group facing the burden of STDs are men who have sex with men (MSM). There has been a troubling rise in syphilis infections among gay, bisexual, and other MSM. Trend data show that MSM account for three quarters (75 percent) of all primary and secondary syphilis cases.

Primary and secondary syphilis are the most infectious stages of the disease, and if not adequately treated, can lead to long-term infection, which can cause visual impairment and stroke. Syphilis infection can also place a person at increased risk for acquiring or transmitting HIV infection. In fact, available surveillance data indicate that an average of half of MSM with syphilis are also infected with HIV.

Read the full article here.
Read the CDC report here.

US guidelines on “prevention with positives” now emphasize engagement with care, HIV treatment and social factors

Posted on January 5, 2015 by administrator

From aidsmap.com…

The American public health agency, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published new recommendations on the HIV prevention interventions and advice that should be offered to people who are HIV positive.

The CDC last issued guidelines on what is sometimes called ‘prevention with positives’ in 2003. Those guidelines ran to 24 pages and emphasised screening for behavioural risk factors and sexually transmitted infections, one-to-one prevention counselling and advice delivered by clinicians, other behavioural interventions, and partner notification.

All those elements remain but the scope of the new guidelines is much broader, with the recommendations now running to 240 pages. Whereas previous guidelines were clearly focused on the individual’s knowledge and behaviour, the new recommendations take greater account of social and structural factors as well as the profound impact that antiretrovirals have on HIV transmission. For example, an individual may need support with poverty, mental illness, substance use or unstable housing in order to be able to fully engage with medical care and adhere to HIV treatment.

Continue reading on aidsmap.com.