Opioid substitution therapy (OST) is associated with improvement on various markers related to antiretroviral (ARV) treatment among HIV-positive injection drug users (IDUs), aidsmap reports. Publishing their findings in Clinical Infectious Diseases, researchers reviewed 32 studies including about 36,000 HIV-positive adult IDUs spanning 1996 and 2014 in nine countries with a median follow-up time of two years.

OST was associated with a 54 percent increase in the likelihood of being on ARVs, an 87 percent increased likelihood of starting ARVs, a 2.14-fold increased likelihood of adhering well to ARVs, a 45 percent increased likelihood of having a fully suppressed viral load and a 23 percent reduced likelihood of stopping ARVs.

The studies did not include data from a series of countries with major HIV epidemics among IDUs, including Ukraine, Russia, Malaysia, the United States and China.

To read the aidsmap article, click here.

To read the study abstract, click here.