Food Insecurity Tied to HIV-Treated Drug Users' Deaths

Food insecurity elevates the risk of death among injection drug users who are victims of HIV/AIDS, even when they have been receiving life-prolonging antiretroviral therapy (ART), according to a news release.

The study, conducted by researchers at the Simon Fraser University, is the first to investigate the impact of food insecurity on the survival rate of injection drug users.

According to the United Nations World Food Programme, food insecurity is defined as an inadequate access to an adequate quantity and quality of food. The researchers noticed that drug users who were "food insecure" when first initiating ART were twice more likely to die when compared to those who were food secure.

According to senior author Robert Hogg, an SFU health sciences professor, this is the first study that examines the impact of food insecurity on the survival of HIV-positive injection drug users.

"The introduction of life-saving antiretroviral therapy has significantly reduced HIV-related morbidity and mortality, however, the impact of insufficient access to food, particularly quality food, on the mortality of HIV-positive injection drug users is alarming. This research points to the urgent need to further investigate the impact of food insecurity on the health outcomes of people living with HIV/AIDS," says Hogg, who is also director of the HIV/AIDS Drug Treatment Program at the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE).

To prove their finding, the researchers examined 254 injection drug users across the B.C. portion of a national HIV food security study, and noticed that nearly 71 percent of them had reported being food insecure during ART initiation. Subjects were followed for 13 years, at the end of which researchers noticed that drug users who were food insecure were twice more likely to die when compared to those individuals who were food secure. 

This association is significant to community organizations who are working in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. The study simultaneously highlights the need to find more options to improve the quality of food that is provided to residents. The results also recommend that drug users will gain from an enhanced better access to education as well as counseling around healthy eating, says Brian Chittock, co-principal investigator of the national HIV food security study.

The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE.