Substance use disparities by age, race, sex, and sexual orientation among persons living with HIV in the Southern U.S.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol and drug use is overrepresented among individuals living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and is associated with poor health outcomes. Determining the extent to which substance use differs between demographic profiles of people living with HIV (PLWH) would determine at-risk groups that would benefit from intervention.

METHODS: Cross-sectional screening data ( N = 1307, M age = 42.7 years, 66% male, 86% African American, 39% sexual minority) was examined from an HIV clinic in the southern U.S. largely treating underserved and low-income patients. Age, gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and their interactions were entered as predictors of substance use and related impairment in a series of zero-inflated negative binomial regressions.

RESULTS: African Americans reported more drug use ( p = 0.004) and drug-related negative consequences ( p = 0.003). Notably, alcohol-related negative consequences of African American heterosexuals were much higher at younger ages, compared to sexual minorities (regardless of race) and White heterosexuals of all age groups ( p = 0.04).

CONCLUSIONS: Among PLWH in the U.S. South, African Americans may be uniquely at-risk with for problems related to drug-related functional impairment. Specifically, young heterosexual African Americans are at high risk for alcohol-related impairment. Implications are discussed.