Rf. Davis et al., LONG-TERM CHANGES IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SYMPTOMATOLOGY ASSOCIATED WITH HIVSEROSTATUS AMONG MALE INJECTING DRUG-USERS, AIDS, 9(1), 1995, pp. 73-79
Objective: To examine long-term changes in psychological symptomatolog
y from 6 to 24 months after notification of HIV serostatus among male
injecting drug users (IDU). Design: Self-report and interview data wer
e collected at 6-month intervals as part of a longitudinal study monit
oring HIV infection and risk-associated behaviors among IDU. Setting:
A community-based methadone-maintenance clinic. Participants: Ninety-s
even male IDU (81 HIV-seronegative, 16 HIV-seropositive), including bo
th methadone-maintained and out-of-treatment IDU. Main outcome measure
s: Analyses of long-term changes in psychological symptomatology assoc
iated with HIV serostatus among male IDU. Results: Analyses of long-te
rm changes in psychological symptomatology between groups revealed no
significantly greater levels of overall psychological distress or sign
ificant elevations on subscales of the Symptom Checklist-90 for HIV-se
ropositive compared with HIV-seronegative male IDU. Also, no significa
ntly higher scores on the Beck Depression Inventory or the psychiatric
composite score of the Addiction Severity Index were observed between
groups. Conclusions: Our results suggest that HIV-seropositive male I
DU do not express greater levels of psychological symptomatology from
6 to 24 months following notification of seropositivity compared with
HIV-seronegative male IDU. Several explanations for these findings are
considered. Future work should examine why male IDU do not report sig
nificant and long-term elevations in symptoms post-notification of HIV
seropositivity. Also, studies of changes in psychological symptomatol
ogy as a function of HIV serostatus among female IDU need to be conduc
ted to assess implications for treatment interventions among this unde
rserved population.