Does Drug Use Affect HIV Status?
March 1, 2008
Author: Catherine M. Callery (Kate)| Louise M. Tarantino
A recent study by published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence by Chun Chao, Ph. D., and colleagues of the department of epidemiology at Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California at Los Angeles, concluded that the use of recreational drugs, like marijuana and cocaine, by persons with AIDS or HIV disease appeared to have little impact on CD4 or CD8 cells. Other studies, however, have found a connection between heavy use of alcohol or drugs and poorer medication adherence and overall health and survival in people living with HIV.
According to Leslie Kline Capelle of Health Advocates, this study could be useful to refute testimony by medical experts that ongoing substance use causes a poorer response to HAART medications, thus leading to findings such as a CD4 of less than 200 being related to the substance abuse. The pattern of heavy alcohol or drug use referred to in the article as correlating with overall poor treatment adherence and health decline - while certainly problematic in a claim - should be distinguished as addiction symptoms interfering with treatment compliance, rather than the substance use itself "causing" a changed response to medications.
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