ArticleDrug and alcohol dependence2024
"Everybody looks at it as drug use instead of pain management": Experiences of chronic pain and its management among older people living with HIV who use drugs in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Article in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- "From an HCV and HIV point of view, it's been remarkable": A qualitative study about using prescribed safer supply to support people who use drugs along the HIV and HCV prevention and treatment cascades in Ontario, Canada.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2025Article
- Pain Severity and Experiences with Pain Management Predict Alcohol Use Among Men Who Have Sex with Men Living with HIV.AIDS and behavior · 2025Article
- The miRNomics of antiretroviral therapy-induced obesity.Functional & integrative genomics · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundChronic pain is a common comorbidity among people living with HIV (PLHIV) who use drugs. However, in-depth understanding of how chronic pain is managed among PLHIV who use drugs remains limited, especially in the aging population. We sought to explore how older PLHIV who use drugs manage chronic pain and situate these experiences within their social and structural contexts.
methodsThis study draws on semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted with 27 PLHIV who use drugs and were living with chronic pain in Vancouver, Canada. Participants were recruited through outreach at an integrated HIV care facility and from an open prospective cohort study of PLHIV who use drugs. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and coded. Salient themes were identified using an inductive-deductive approach to coding.
resultsThree themes emerged from our data analysis. First, chronic pain influenced daily life and functioning, including ability to manage HIV and other health conditions. Second, provider-related barriers, including anti-drug stigma and discrimination, impeded access to pain management. Third, illicit drugs were often used to self-manage pain.
conclusionsThis study advances our understanding of the everyday experiences of living with chronic pain among older PLHIV who use drugs. Inadequately managed pain may contribute to an array of health- and drug-related harms among this population. Our findings underscore the need for equitable access to pain care, and safer alternatives to the toxic illicit drug supply in the context of the illicit drug poisoning epidemic, to relieve suffering and improve quality of life for older PLHIV who use drugs.
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