Table 2.
Baseline characteristics of HAART-exposed crack cocaine users in Vancouver, Canada, stratified by pVL non-detectability (n = 438)
| Characteristic | Total (n = 438) n (%) |
pVL <50 copies/mLa | p-value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yes 212 (48.4 %) |
No 226 (51.6 %) |
|||
| Age (median, IQR) | 44 (38–49) | 45 (41–51) | 42 (36–47) | <0.001 |
| Gender | ||||
| Male | 293 (66.9 %) | 149 (70.3 %) | 144 (63.7 %) | 0.145 |
| Female | 145 (33.1 %) | 63 (29.7 %) | 82 (36.3 %) | reference |
| Ancestry | ||||
| Caucasian | 239 (54.6 %) | 122 (57.5 %) | 117 (51.8 %) | 0.225 |
| Non-Caucasian | 199 (45.4 %) | 90 (42.5 %) | 109 (48.2 %) | reference |
| Education | ||||
| < Secondary education | 228 (52.1 %) | 107 (50.5 %) | 121 (53.5 %) | 0.462 |
| ≥ Secondary education | 196 (44.7 %) | 99 (46.7 %) | 97 (42.9 %) | reference |
| Homelessa | ||||
| Yes | 129 (29.5 %) | 36 (17.0 %) | 93 (41.2 %) | <0.001 |
| No | 306 (69.9 %) | 174 (82.1 %) | 132 (58.4 %) | reference |
| Crack cocaine smokinga | ||||
| ≥ Daily | 175 (40.0 %) | 72 (34.0 %) | 103 (45.6 %) | 0.013 |
| < Daily | 263 (60.0 %) | 140 (66.0 %) | 123 (54.4 %) | reference |
| Heroin usea | ||||
| ≥ Daily | 48 (11.0 %) | 16 (7.5 %) | 32 (14.2 %) | 0.026 |
| < Daily | 389 (88.8 %) | 196 (92.5 %) | 193 (85.4 %) | reference |
| Crystal methamphetamine usea,c | ||||
| ≥ Daily | 9 (2.1 %) | 6 (2.8 %) | 3 (1.3 %) | 0.326 |
| < Daily | 428 (97.7 %) | 206 (97.2 %) | 222 (98.2 %) | reference |
| Heavy alcohol use (≥5 drinks per day)a,c | ||||
| Yes | 13 (3.0 %) | 4 (1.9 %) | 9 (4.0 %) | 0.263 |
| No | 425 (97.0 %) | 208 (98.1 %) | 217 (96.0 %) | reference |
| Engagement in sex work or drug dealinga | ||||
| Yes | 164 (37.4 %) | 72 (34.0 %) | 92 (40.7 %) | 0.145 |
| No | 270 (61.6 %) | 138 (65.1 %) | 132 (58.4 %) | reference |
| Incarcerationa | ||||
| Yes | 58 (13.2 %) | 25 (11.8 %) | 33 (14.6 %) | 0.386 |
| No | 380 (86.8 %) | 187 (88.2 %) | 193 (85.4 %) | reference |
| HIV physician experienceb | ||||
| Previously treated <6 patients | 48 (11.0 %) | 21 (9.9 %) | 27 (11.9 %) | 0.418 |
| Previously treated ≥6 patients | 340 (77.6 %) | 170 (80.2 %) | 170 (75.2 %) | reference |
| CD4 cell counta (median, IQR) | 300 (180–450) | 360 (260–500) | 230 (110–360) | <0.001 |
| Years since HAART initiationa (median, IQR) | 5.7 (2.2–8.5) | 5.9 (2.3–8.7) | 5.5 (2.1–8.4) | 0.243 |
| Regimenb | ||||
| Single tablet per day | 34 (7.8 %) | 18 (8.5 %) | 16 (7.1 %) | 0.713 |
| 2-3 tablets per day | 121 (27.6 %) | 78 (36.8 %) | 43 (19.0 %) | 0.008 |
| > 3 tablets per day | 230 (52.5 %) | 114 (53.8 %) | 116 (51.3 %) | reference |
| Participation in inpatient addiction treatmenta | ||||
| Yes | 35 (8.0 %) | 14 (6.6 %) | 21 (9.3 %) | 0.300 |
| No | 403 (92.0 %) | 198 (93.4 %) | 205 (90.7 %) | reference |
| Participation in outpatient detoxification or other outpatient addiction treatmenta,c | ||||
| Yes | 5 (1.1 %) | 4 (1.9 %) | 1 (0.4 %) | 0.203 |
| No | 433 (98.9 %) | 208 (98.1 %) | 225 (99.6 %) | reference |
| Seeing drug counsellors or participation in addiction-related peer support meetingsa | ||||
| Yes | 43 (9.8 %) | 30 (14.2 %) | 13 (5.8 %) | 0.003 |
| No | 395 (90.2 %) | 182 (85.8 %) | 213 (94.2 %) | reference |
| Restricted to dual crack cocaine and opioid users (n = 293) | ||||
| Participation in opioid substitution therapiesa | ||||
| Yes | 186 (63.5 %) | 98 (72.6 %) | 88 (55.7 %) | 0.003 |
| No | 107 (36.5 %) | 37 (29.4 %) | 70 (45.4 %) | reference |
HAART highly active antiretroviral therapy, CI confidence interval, IQR interquartile range, pVL plasma HIV RNA viral load
a denotes activities/events in the past 6 months
b denotes at the time of antiretroviral therapy initiation
c p-values were derived from Fisher’s exact test
Not all cells added up to 100 % due to some missing values