TY - JOUR
T1 - Integration of a geospatially targeted community-based testing approach with respondent-driven sampling to identify people who inject drugs living with HIV and HCV in Patti and Gorakhpur, India
AU - Loeb, Talia A.
AU - McFall, Allison M.
AU - Srikrishnan, Aylur K.
AU - Anand, Santhanam
AU - Vasudevan, Canjeevaram K.
AU - Mehta, Shruti
AU - Solomon, Sunil
N1 - Funding Information:
National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, USA; Grant# DP2DA040244 and Grant# R01DA041736; This research was funded in part by a developmental grant from the Johns Hopkins University Center for AIDS Research, an NIH funded program (1P30AI094189), which is supported by the following NIH Co-Funding and Participating Institutes and Centers: NIAID, NCI, NICHD, NHLBI, NIDA, NIA, NIGMS, NIDDK, NIMHD. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.; We thank the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), India, Punjab SACS, all of our partner non-governmental organizations throughout India, and the research participants, without whom this research would not have been possible. Sunil S. Solomon has received grants and products from Gilead Sciences and Abbott Laboratories, and honoraria from Gilead Sciences. Shruti H. Mehta has received products from Abbott Laboratories.
Funding Information:
National Institutes of Health , National Institute on Drug Abuse , USA; Grant# DP2DA040244 and Grant# R01DA041736 ; This research was funded in part by a developmental grant from the Johns Hopkins University Center for AIDS Research, an NIH funded program ( 1P30AI094189 ), which is supported by the following NIH Co-Funding and Participating Institutes and Centers: NIAID , NCI , NICHD , NHLBI , NIDA , NIA , NIGMS , NIDDK , NIMHD . The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.; We thank the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), India, Punjab SACS, all of our partner non-governmental organizations throughout India, and the research participants, without whom this research would not have been possible.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2023/6/1
Y1 - 2023/6/1
N2 - Background: Respondent-driven sampling (RDS), a network recruitment approach, is effective at reaching people who inject drugs (PWID), but other strategies may be needed to reach PWID at risk or living with HIV and/or Hepatitis C (HCV). We examined the impact of integrating geospatially targeted community-based HIV/HCV testing with an RDS survey. Methods: PWID were recruited between 2019 and 2021 in Patti and Gorakhpur, India, in a two-phased approach for identifying PWID living with HIV/HCV. Phase 1 was an RDS survey, in which participants reported injection venues. Venues with the highest prevalence of HIV/HCV viremia were selected for Phase 2: community-based testing. All participants underwent rapid HIV and HCV testing and viral load quantification. Using Pearson's chi-squared test, two-sided exact significance tests, and t-tests, we compared prevalence and identification rates for each of the primary outcomes: the number of PWID 1) living with HIV/HCV, 2) undiagnosed, and 3) viremic. Results: Both approaches identified large numbers of PWID (n∼500 each; N=2011) who were living with HIV/HCV and had transmission potential (i.e., detectable viremia). The community-based approach identified a higher proportion of individuals living with HCV (76.4% vs. 69.6% in Gorakhpur and 36.3% vs. 29.0% in Patti). Community-based testing was also faster at identifying PWID with detectable HIV viremia. Both approaches identified PWID with varying demographic characteristics. Conclusions: Community-based testing was more efficient than RDS overall, but both may be required to reach PWID of varying characteristics. Surveillance should collect data on injection venues to facilitate community-based testing and maximize case identification.
AB - Background: Respondent-driven sampling (RDS), a network recruitment approach, is effective at reaching people who inject drugs (PWID), but other strategies may be needed to reach PWID at risk or living with HIV and/or Hepatitis C (HCV). We examined the impact of integrating geospatially targeted community-based HIV/HCV testing with an RDS survey. Methods: PWID were recruited between 2019 and 2021 in Patti and Gorakhpur, India, in a two-phased approach for identifying PWID living with HIV/HCV. Phase 1 was an RDS survey, in which participants reported injection venues. Venues with the highest prevalence of HIV/HCV viremia were selected for Phase 2: community-based testing. All participants underwent rapid HIV and HCV testing and viral load quantification. Using Pearson's chi-squared test, two-sided exact significance tests, and t-tests, we compared prevalence and identification rates for each of the primary outcomes: the number of PWID 1) living with HIV/HCV, 2) undiagnosed, and 3) viremic. Results: Both approaches identified large numbers of PWID (n∼500 each; N=2011) who were living with HIV/HCV and had transmission potential (i.e., detectable viremia). The community-based approach identified a higher proportion of individuals living with HCV (76.4% vs. 69.6% in Gorakhpur and 36.3% vs. 29.0% in Patti). Community-based testing was also faster at identifying PWID with detectable HIV viremia. Both approaches identified PWID with varying demographic characteristics. Conclusions: Community-based testing was more efficient than RDS overall, but both may be required to reach PWID of varying characteristics. Surveillance should collect data on injection venues to facilitate community-based testing and maximize case identification.
KW - Community-based testing
KW - Hepatitis C
KW - HIV
KW - India
KW - Persons who inject drugs
KW - Respondent driven sampling
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U2 - 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2023.109874
DO - 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2023.109874
M3 - Article
C2 - 37087926
AN - SCOPUS:85153319962
SN - 0376-8716
VL - 247
JO - Drug and alcohol dependence
JF - Drug and alcohol dependence
M1 - 109874
ER -