Trajectories of Pain Impact and Pain Self-Efficacy in People with HIV and Chronic Pain: Extending Findings from the Skills TO Manage Pain (STOMP) Randomized Clinical Trial.

Background: People with HIV (PWH) frequently experience chronic pain, which negatively impacts their health and functioning. To improve health outcomes, we need effective interventions for HIV-related chronic pain. Skills TO Manage Pain (STOMP), a novel pain self-management intervention tailored for PWH and chronic pain, has demonstrated efficacy in reducing pain impact (measured by the Brief Pain Inventory) and improving pain self-efficacy immediately after a 12-week intervention and three months later.

The lipid research clinics physical activity questionnaire does not accurately measure physical activity in people with HIV.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the agreement between self-reported physical activity (PA) levels, as measured by the Lipid Research Clinics Physical Activity Questionnaire (LRCQ), and objective measures obtained through actigraphy in people with HIV.

Methods: Cross-sectional data were analyzed from the 130 people with HIV who completed the LRCQ and wore an actigraphy device for 7-10 days. The agreement between the LRCQ and actigraphy was assessed using various interrater agreement metrics, including Cohen's kappa and percentage agreement.

Results of a workshop intervention trial to reduce HIV and intersectional stigma among sexual and gender minorities and healthcare workers in the Dominican Republic.

Eliminating stigmas that harm sexual and gender minorities (SGM) with HIV is necessary to end the epidemic; however, few validated stigma-reducing interventions for healthcare settings exist, and even fewer have been evaluated in Spanish-speaking contexts. Finding Respect and Ending Stigma around HIV (FRESH) is a healthcare setting stigma-reduction intervention that was adapted and tested to address HIV and intersectional stigmas that harm SGM with HIV in the Dominican Republic. Herein, we detail the intervention adaptation process and present feasibility, acceptability, and pre-post preliminary effectiveness results ascertained via paired t-tests.

Abdominal adiposity is negatively associated with physical function among people with HIV.

Objective: To examine the relationship between body mass index (BMI), abdominal adiposity, handgrip strength and physical function in people with HIV (PWH), and to explore the potential influence of physical activity and diet on this relationship.

Design: Cross-sectional analyses.

Methods: The PROSPER-HIV Study was conducted at four clinical sites across the United States.

Preferences for Monthly Oral PrEP Over Other PrEP Modalities Among a National Sample of Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex With Men in the United States.

Introduction: Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) cannot meaningfully affect the HIV epidemic in the United States without improving access to PrEP and reducing PrEP disparities among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM), especially GBM of color. A patient-centered approach to increase PrEP options will offer better PrEP solutions to GBM. We sought to understand how GBM prefer current and emerging PrEP modalities.

HIV and intersectional stigma among people living with HIV and healthcare workers and antiretroviral therapy adherence in the Dominican Republic.

Background: HIV-related stigma, discrimination, and social marginalization undermines optimal HIV care outcomes. More research examining the impact of HIV-related stigma, discrimination, other interlocking forms of oppression, and antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence is needed to optimize HIV treatment programming. This study uses data from two clinics in the Dominican Republic to examine client and healthcare worker (HCW) perceptions of HIV and intersectional stigmas among people living with HIV.

A Moderated Mediation Analysis of HIV and Intersectional Stigmas and Antiretroviral Adherence in People Living with HIV in the Dominican Republic.

Experiencing HIV and intersectional stigmas in healthcare settings may affect antiretroviral treatment (ART) adherence among people with HIV (PWH), given their need for frequent interactions with clinical settings and healthcare providers. Considering the importance of reducing stigmas to promote well-being and the need to elucidate how stigma influences health across various settings, we examined how experienced HIV stigma in Dominican Republic healthcare settings impacts ART adherence through internalized HIV stigma and whether race or sexual orientation stigma moderates this relationship. Participants were 471 PWH (aged 17-71) who were recruited from two HIV clinics in the Dominican Republic in 2021-2022.

Population-average mediation analysis for zero-inflated count outcomes.

Mediation analysis is an increasingly popular statistical method for explaining causal pathways to inform intervention. While methods have increased, there is still a dearth of robust mediation methods for count outcomes with excess zeroes. Current mediation methods addressing this issue are computationally intensive, biased, or challenging to interpret.

Re-evaluating the relationship between youth with HIV and BMI in an age of increasing rates of overweight and obese youth.

Background: Newer antiretrivirals (ART) have shifted the metabolic experiences of people with HIV (PWH) from those of wasting syndrome to increases in body mass index (BMI). This study sought to examine the relationship between BMI and ART use among youth with HIV (YWH).

Methods: Charts from YWH ages 10-24 with at least two documented BMIs at least 6 months apart between 2017 and 2020 were included (N = 44).

The Characteristics of Youth With Missed HIV Visits in Alabama.

Gaps in knowledge remain related to understanding missed human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) visits and youth with HIV (YWH). This study examined data from an Alabama academic HIV clinic with clients aged 16 to 24 years old and found that non virally suppressed and older YWH were associated with missed visits among YWH.

Viral load and sexually transmitted infection testing among youth with HIV in a southern United States clinic.

As compared to their older peers, youth with HIV (YWH) are less likely to attain viral suppression and have higher rates of sexually transmitted infections (STI). In this exploratory study, we examine the relationship between HIV viral suppression, STI testing, and STI diagnosis among YWH receiving care at a clinic in the southern United States. Data from 933 clinical visits (2017-2020) were aggregated into singular patient records for YWH aged 10-24 years in Alabama ( = 139).

Physical activity is associated with adiposity in older adults with HIV in the modern HIV era.

Objectives: People with HIV (PWH) are aging and are experiencing higher rates of abdominal adiposity. Physical activity is an effective nonpharmacological strategy to reduce adiposity in the general aging population. Yet, the relationship between physical activity and adiposity in people with well controlled HIV is unclear.

Development and implementation of a distributed data network between an academic institution and state health departments to investigate variation in time to HIV viral suppression in the Deep South.

Background: Achieving early and sustained viral suppression (VS) following diagnosis of HIV infection is critical to improving outcomes for persons with HIV (PWH). The Deep South of the United States (US) is a region that is disproportionately impacted by the domestic HIV epidemic. Time to VS, defined as time from diagnosis to initial VS, is substantially longer in the South than other regions of the US.

Geospatial Analysis of Time to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Diagnosis and Adult HIV Testing Coverage Highlights Areas for Intervention in the US Southeast.

Background: In the United States (US), 44% of people with human immunodeficiency virus (PWH) live in the Southeastern census region; many PWH remain undiagnosed. Novel strategies to inform testing outreach in rural states with dispersed HIV epidemics are needed.

Methods: Alabama state public health HIV testing surveillance data from 2013 to 2017 were used to estimate time from infection to HIV diagnosis using CD4 T-cell depletion modeling, mapped to county.

A Multicomponent Intervention to Train and Support Family Medicine Providers to Promote Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) for Adolescent Girls and Young Women in the Deep South: Protocol for the PrEP-Pro Study.

Background: Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a highly effective biomedical prevention intervention and a major strategy for reducing the HIV burden in the United States. However, PrEP provision and uptake remain lower than estimated needs, and in ways that may exacerbate HIV disparities among Black adolescent girls and young women in the southern United States. Data suggest that gaps in provider knowledge of HIV epidemiology and PrEP and skills assessing sexual health practices are important barriers to provision and uptake, with limited evidence-based interventions to address these gaps.

Using publicly available data to identify priority communities for a SARS-CoV-2 testing intervention in a southern U.S. state.

Background: The U.S. Southeast has a high burden of SARS-CoV-2 infections and COVID-19 disease.

Gaps in sexually transmitted infection screening among youth living with HIV in Alabama.

Objective: Gaps in sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing can lead to poor health outcomes due to untreated illness among youth living with HIV (YLHIV). Thus, the objective of this study is to examine STI testing behavior and outcomes among a sample of YLHIV in the southern United States. Clinical records of 139 YLHIV who received HIV care in Alabama (2017-2020) were evaluated for receipt of STI testing (gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis), prevalence of positive test results, and factors associated with testing outcomes (933 clinical visits).

Adapting and pilot testing an HIV and intersectional stigma reducing intervention for Dominican Republic healthcare contexts: Protocol for translational research.

Background: This protocol details the adaptation and pilot testing of the Finding Respect and Ending Stigma around HIV (FRESH) intervention in Dominican Republic. FRESH is a healthcare setting stigma-reduction intervention designed to reduce stigmas affecting people living with HIV (PLHIV), focusing on HIV and intersectional stigmas experienced by sexual and gender minority (SGM) people living with HIV. After the successful adaptation of the FRESH intervention, it will be pilot-tested through the conduct of a pilot stepped wedge cluster randomized controlled trial.

Prevalence and associations of classic psychedelic-related seizures in a population-based sample.

Objectives: Previous studies have reported links between classic psychedelic use and seizures, but little remains known about prevalence and potential risk factors of classic psychedelic-related seizures.

Methods: Using a sample representative of the US adult population with regard to sex, age, and ethnicity (N = 2822), this study examined the prevalence and potential risk factors of classic psychedelic-related seizures, in a subsample of respondents who reported lifetime classic psychedelic use (n = 613).

Results: Among those who reported lifetime classic psychedelic use, 1.

Trends in diabetes incidence and associated risk factors among people with HIV in the current treatment era.

Objective: To examine type 2 diabetes mellitus incidence and associated risk factors among people with HIV (PWH).

Design: A retrospective clinical cohort study of PWH at a Southeastern US academic HIV clinic between 2008 and 2018.

Methods: PWH who attended at least two clinic visits were evaluated with demographic and clinical data extracted from the electronic medical record (EMR).