CPDD 78th Annual Scientific Meeting Program

SYMPOSIA
Wednesday, June 15
XIII:
Bio-behavioral research on HIV among people who use drugs
Chairs: Christina S. Meade and Adam W. Carrico
Since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, drug users have been at increased risk
for HIV infection and transmission, both through risky injection drug practices and
risky sexual behaviors. As the epidemic has evolved, drug users have faced increasing
disparities related to HIV testing treatment, and retention in care— with
correspondingly poorer clinical and psychosocial outcomes. Moreover, drug addiction
can interfere with HIV treatment outcomes, both directly through biological processes
and indirectly through difficulties with HIV disease management. With the goal of an
AIDS-free generation, funding priorities now emphasize biomedical approaches.
However, behavioral research remains critical to ensure that all individuals – no matter
how difficult to reach – can derive the maximum benefits from new biomedical
treatments to reduce the transmission of HIV and effectively manage HIV-associated
comorbidities. This symposium highlights major advances from interdisciplinary
research teams led by behavioral scientists. The presentations cover bio-behavioral
approaches to identifying behavioral risks among high-risk groups, neurocognitive
impacts on decision-making processes relevant to HIV risk, and multi-component
interventions to reduce risk of HIV transmission and improve HIV-related outcomes.
The discussant will review the results of these studies in light of new NIH priorities for
HIV/AIDS research among persons who use and abuse drugs.
XIV:
Reducing the harms of opioid analgesic use in health systems
Chairs: Amy Bohnert and Tae Woo Park
Reducing the harms of opioid medications used in the treatment of pain has become a
major priority of health systems, public health agencies, and policymakers. Because
opioid prescribing has been linked to overdose and misuse on a population and
individual level, improving treatment practices is a major focus of efforts to address
this problem. We will report emerging evidence related to efforts to reduce the harms
of opioids in treatment settings. Patients in addictions treatment settings will
represent a group of particular attention for several of the studies reported. One
avenue of health system-based prevention is to use information readily in electronic
medical records to identify those patients receiving opioids at greatest risk for harm.
We will present on patient and treatment characteristics associated with opioid misuse
in a military population as well as overdose specifically among addictions treatment
clients. We will seek to further elucidate risk reduction strategies through qualitative
interviews with health care providers. This will include examining the feasibility of a
military prescription drug monitoring program. Additionally, a series of interviews
with primary care providers and pharmacists will explore their decision-making
processes when balancing the benefits and risks of prescribing and dispensing opioids
for chronic non-cancer pain. We will also report on use of non-pharmacological pain
management strategies among individuals with comorbid chronic pain and substance
use disorders to explore avenues for reducing reliance on opioids for analgesia. The
discussion will focus on the translation of these findings to patient-, provider-, and
system-level interventions.