Table I.

Measures and descriptions of covariates/confounders.

Variable	Measure	Description	Scoring	Cronbach’ s αa
Behavioral and provider factors
Drug use	10-item Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST-10) (27)	Assesses perceptions of problematic drug use during the previous 12 months.	Items: 10 Responses: yes/no Range: 0–10. Scores: 0–2 = no to low level of problems related to drug abuse, 3–10 = moderate to severe levels of drug abuse	0.80
Alcohol use	Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT-10) (28)	Assesses perceptions of problematic alcohol use during the previous 12 months.	Items: 10 Responses: 3-point & 5-point Likert scales Range: 0–40 Scores: ≥8 = at risk for harmful drinking	0.71
Healthcare provider factors	19-item Attitude Towards the Health Care Provider Scale (ATHCP) (9)	Assesses attitudes toward one’s HIV care team.	Items: 19 Reponses: 6-point Likert scale (1=Strongly agree to 6=Strongly disagree). Range: 19–114 Scores: Higher scores indicate a more positive attitude	0.96
Depressive symptoms	Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale Revised (CESD-R) (29)	Assesses nine symptoms of depression (dysphoria, anhedonia, appetite, sleep, concentration, worthlessness, fatigue, agitation, and suicidal ideation) in accordance with the DSM-V diagnostic criteria for Major Depressive Disorder.	Items: 20 Responses: 0= “Not at all or less than one day” to 3= “Nearly every day for 2 weeks,” Range: 0 – 60 Higher scores indicate more depressive symptoms. A score ≥16 indicates at risk for clinical depression.	0.93
Disease status and emergent health care utilization behaviors

Variable	Assessment method	Description	Categories/Scoring
Comorbidity burden	Self-reported version of the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) (30).	Participants indicate whether they have a diagnosis for any of 19 conditions. The CCI has strong construct validity and reliability (26).	Comorbidities are assigned a weight based on the adjusted 1 - year mortality risk. AIDS diagnosis was omitted from this study as its weight is outdated in the current ART era.
HIV viral load	EMR laboratory data	A single HIV-1 RNA viral load lab value was collected at ± 2 months from the baseline survey completion date.	< 40 copies/mL / ≥40 copies/mL
CD4+ T cell count	EMR laboratory data	A single CD4+ T cell count lab value collected at ±2 months from the baseline survey completion date.	<200 cells/mm3 / ≥ 200 cells/mm3
ED visits	EMR admissions data	Total number of ED visits during the 12-month prospective data extraction period.	No ED visits / Any ED visits
Acute hospitalizations	EMR admissions data	Total number of hospitalizations during the 12-month prospective data extraction period.	No hospitalizations / any hospitalizations

^aCronbach’s alpha calculated using this study’s sample; DSM-V= Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Five; ART= antiretroviral therapy; ED= emergency department; EMR= electronic medical record