HIV and Drug Abuse
HIV from Injection Drug Use
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As of 2013 there were an estimated 103,100 men in the US with IDU HIV.
HIV from injection drug use (PWID) has decreased 48% from 2008 to 2014
Statistic Breakdown
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In 2015 6% (2,392) of the 39,513 HIV diagnoses in the US were attributed to IDU, while 3% (1,202) were attributed to MSM.
59% of those diagnoses were men and 41% were women.
38% were black, 40% were white, and 19% were Latino.
Of the 18,303 AIDS diagnoses in 2015, 10% (1,804) were attributed to IDU and 4% were MSM.
2012 Stats
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In 2012 the CDC’s National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS) system conducted interviews and HIV testing of 10,002 PWID (persons who inject drugs). Of those tested, 11% tested positive for HIV, 30% shared syringes, 70% had vaginal sex without a condom, 25% had heterosexual anal sex without a condom, and 5% of men had sex without a condom in the previous 12 months. Only 51% of them had been tested for HIV.
13 million people inject drugs, and 1.7 million of them are living with HIV in the world. That accounts for 10% of people living HIV globally and 30% of those living with HIV outside of Africa.
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33,000 opioid-related deaths in the US in 2015
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Heroin use has gone up as other opioid use has gone down suggesting that prescription drug users are shifting to heroin
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Heroin caused 1,960 deaths in 1999 compared to 10,574 in 2014 and opioid deaths went from 4,030 to 18,893 in the same 15 years
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Opioid prescriptions tripled over the 20 years between 1991 to 2011 from 76 million to 219 million. Mexican heroin flooded the market and was cheaper, and easier to obtain so people flocked to it
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12 states had more opioid prescriptions than adults in 2012
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Opioids have been increasingly prescribed, particularly in the South and Midwest where there can be as many as 1.5 opioid prescriptions per person. This has direct correlations to heroin use as prescription users will often make the switch to heroin when their prescription gets discontinued.
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The problem is further complicated because these areas with high opioid usage generally don’t have advanced HIV prevention programs available, and needle exchange programs are less prevalent.
Statistics on Opioids
Sources
https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/risk/idu.html
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https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6410a3.htm
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http://www.who.int/hiv/topics/idu/en/
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http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/24/health/opioid-deaths-cdc-report/index.html
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https://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR_2010/2.0_Drug_statistics_and_Trends.pdf
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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/how-bad-is-the-opioid-epidemic/
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https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6326a2.htm?s_cid=mm6326a2_w
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https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/statedeaths.html
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https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/prescribing.html
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https://www.avert.org/professionals/hiv-social-issues/key-affected-populations/people-inject-drugs
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All graphics by Jaclyn Saik
