The effect of homelessness on hospitalisation among patients with HIV/AIDS

Changes in health and health care utilization following eviction from public housing

OBJECTIVES

This study sought to (1) determine the number of persons evicted from the Durham Housing Authority (DHA) over a 5-year period, (2) explore changes in the number of persons with various medical diagnoses and health care utilization patterns before and after eviction, and (3) examine how many persons evicted from DHA became literally homeless.

DESIGN

This was a pre/post cross-sectional quantitative study.

SAMPLE

Heads of households evicted from DHA properties from January 1, 2013 through December 31, 2017 were included in the study.

MEASUREMENTS

We matched people evicted by the DHA in a university health system electronic health record system to determine changes in diagnoses and health care utilization before and after eviction. We also matched the cohort in the homeless management information system to determine how many persons evicted became literally homeless.

RESULTS

Findings indicate statistically significant increases in persons with medical diagnoses in five of ten categories, total hospital admissions, and emergency department visits after eviction. Of the 152 people included in the study, 34 (22%) became literally homeless.

CONCLUSIONS

Health and health care utilization patterns were different before and after eviction. Implications for clinicians are explored.

Housing Status, Medical Care, and Health Outcomes Among People Living With HIV/AIDS: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

Accumulating evidence suggests responses to HIV that combine individual-level interventions with those that address structural or contextual factors that influence risks and health outcomes of infection. Housing is such a factor. Housing occupies a strategic position as an intermediate structural factor, linking "upstream" economic, social, and cultural determinants to the more immediate physical and social environments in which everyday life is lived. The importance of housing status for HIV prevention and care has been recognized, but much of this attention has focused on homeless individuals as a special risk group. Analyses have less often addressed community housing availability and conditions as factors influencing population health or unstable, inadequate, or unaffordable housing as a situation or temporary state. A focus on individual-level characteristics associated with literal homelessness glosses over social, economic, and policy drivers operating largely outside any specific individual's control that affect housing and residential environments and the health resources or risk exposures such contexts provide.

OBJECTIVES

We examined the available empirical evidence on the association between housing status (broadly defined), medical care, and health outcomes among people with HIV and analyzed results to inform future research, program development, and policy implementation.

SEARCH METHODS

We searched 8 electronic health and social science databases from January 1, 1996, through March 31, 2014, using search terms related to housing, dwelling, and living arrangements and HIV and AIDS. We contacted experts for additional literature.

SELECTION CRITERIA

We selected articles if they were quantitative analyses published in English, French, or Spanish that included at least 1 measure of housing status as an independent variable and at least 1 health status, health care, treatment adherence, or risk behavior outcome among people with HIV in high-income countries. We defined housing status to include consideration of material or social dimensions of housing adequacy, stability, and security of tenure.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

Two independent reviewers performed data extraction and quality appraisal. We used the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool for randomized controlled trials and a modified version of the Newcastle Ottawa Quality Appraisal Tool for nonintervention studies. In our quality appraisal, we focused on issues of quality for observational studies: appropriate methods for determining exposure and measuring outcomes and methods to control confounding.

RESULTS

Searches yielded 5528 references from which we included 152 studies, representing 139,757 HIV-positive participants. Most studies were conducted in the United States and Canada. Studies examined access and utilization of HIV medical care, adherence to antiretroviral medications, HIV clinical outcomes, other health outcomes, emergency department and inpatient utilization, and sex and drug risk behaviors. With rare exceptions, across studies in all domains, worse housing status was independently associated with worse outcomes, controlling for a range of individual patient and care system characteristics.

CONCLUSIONS

Lack of stable, secure, adequate housing is a significant barrier to consistent and appropriate HIV medical care, access and adherence to antiretroviral medications, sustained viral suppression, and risk of forward transmission. Studies that examined the history of homelessness or problematic housing years before outcome assessment were least likely to find negative outcomes, homelessness being a potentially modifiable contextual factor. Randomized controlled trials and observational studies indicate an independent effect of housing assistance on improved outcomes for formerly homeless or inadequately housed people with HIV. Housing challenges result from complex interactions between individual vulnerabilities and broader economic, political, and legal structural determinants of health. The broad structural processes sustaining social exclusion and inequality seem beyond the immediate reach of HIV interventions, but changing housing and residential environments is both possible and promising.

Modelling clinical progression and health care utilization of HIV-positive patients in British Columbia prior to death

OBJECTIVES

The extent to which clinical progression of HIV-positive patients leads to an increase in health care utilization, especially prior to their death, is unknown. Thus, we modelled trends in CD4 cell count and emergency department utilization and the likelihood of an emergency department visit leading to a transfer to an acute care-level facility prior to a patient's death from nonaccidental causes.

METHODS

Eligible patients initiated highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in British Columbia between August 1996 and June 2006 (n = 457). Patients were followed until their death, which occurred on or before 30 June 2007 (period in which the emergency department visit data were available). Trends were modelled using generalized mixed effects.

RESULTS

Patients experienced a significantly steep decline in CD4 cell count and a corresponding increase in the number of emergency department visits and transfers to acute-level facilities in the 5 years prior to death. For every 6-month interval prior to death, the CD4 cell count decreased by 13.22 cells/μL, the risk of experiencing an emergency department visit increased by 9%, and among those ever admitted, the odds ratio of being transferred to an acute care-level facility increased by 3%.

CONCLUSIONS

We showed that patients experienced a steep decline in CD4 cell count, which was associated with an increase in health care utilization prior to their death. These findings highlight the substantial residual avoidable burden that unsuccessfully managed HIV disease poses, even in the HAART era. Further strategies to enhance sustained and successful engagement in care are urgently needed to mitigate high health care utilization.

Food insecurity is associated with greater acute care utilization among HIV-infected homeless and marginally housed individuals in San Francisco

BACKGROUND

Food insecurity, or the uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate, safe foods, has been associated with poor HIV outcomes. There are few data on the extent to which food insecurity impacts patterns of health-care utilization among HIV-infected individuals.

OBJECTIVE

We examined whether food insecurity was associated with hospitalizations, Emergency Department (ED) visits, and non-ED outpatient visits.

METHODS

HIV-infected, homeless and marginally housed individuals participating in the San Francisco Research on Access to Care in the Homeless (REACH) cohort underwent quarterly structured interviews and blood draws. We measured food insecurity with the validated Household Food Insecurity Access Scale, and categorized participants as food secure, mild/moderately food insecure, and severely food insecure. Primary outcomes were: (1) any hospitalizations, (2) any ED visits, and (3) any non-ED outpatient visits. Generalized estimating equations were used to estimate model parameters, adjusting for socio-demographic (age, sex, ethnicity, education, income, housing status, health insurance) and clinical variables (CD4 nadir, time on antiretroviral therapy, depression, and illicit drug use).

RESULTS

Beginning in November 2007, 347 persons were followed for a median of 2 years. Fifty-six percent of participants were food insecure at enrollment. Compared with food-secure persons, those with severe food insecurity had increased odds of hospitalizations [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 2.16, 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 1.50-3.09] and ED visits (AOR = 1.71, 95 % CI = 1.06-2.30). While the odds of an outpatient visit were 41 % higher for severely food insecure individuals, the effect was not statistically significant (AOR = 1.41, 95 % CI = 0.99-2.01). Mild/moderate food insecurity was also associated with increased hospitalizations (AOR = 1.56, 95 % CI = 1.06-2.30), ED visits (AOR = 1.57, 95 % CI = 1.22-2.03), and outpatient visits (AOR = 1.68, 95 % CI = 1.20-2.17).

CONCLUSIONS

Food insecurity is associated with increased health services utilization among homeless and marginally housed HIV-infected individuals in San Francisco. Increased ED visits and hospitalizations are not related to fewer ambulatory care visits among food-insecure individuals. Addressing food insecurity should be a critical component of HIV treatment programs and may reduce reliance on acute care utilization.

Specific psychiatric correlates of acute care utilization among unstably housed HIV-positive adults

The role of specific psychiatric diagnoses in emergency department use and/or inpatient hospitalizations (acute care) has not been extensively examined among HIV-infected, unstably housed persons. A community-recruited sample of 284 HIV-infected, unstably housed adults completed the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for DSM-IV. One-third of participants screened positive for major depression and stimulant use disorders. Sleeping on the street [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 4.21], major depression (AOR = 2.88) and stimulant use disorders (AOR = 4.45) were associated with greater odds of acute care use. Housing and effective treatment of depression and stimulant use disorders may decrease use of acute care services in this population.

Emergency department utilization among a cohort of HIV-positive injecting drug users in a Canadian setting

BACKGROUND

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive injection drug users (IDUs) are known to be at risk for multiple medical problems that may necessitate emergency department (ED) use; however, the relative contribution of HIV disease vs. injection-related complications has not been well described.

OBJECTIVES

We examined factors associated with ED use among a prospective cohort of HIV-positive IDUs in a Canadian setting.

METHODS

We enrolled HIV-positive IDUs into a community-recruited prospective cohort study. We modeled factors associated with the time to first ED visit using Cox regression to determine factors independently associated with ED use. In sub-analyses, we examined ED diagnoses and subsequent hospital admission rates.

RESULTS

Between December 5, 2005 and April 30, 2008, 428 HIV-positive IDUs were enrolled, among whom the cumulative incidence of ED use was 63.7% (95% confidence interval [CI] 59.1-68.3%) at 12 months after enrollment. Factors independently associated with time to first ED visit included: unstable housing (hazard ratio [HR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.1-2.0) and reporting being unable to obtain needed health care services (HR 2.2; 95% CI 1.2-4.1), whereas CD4 count and viral load were non-significant. Skin and soft tissue infections accounted for the greatest proportion of ED visits (17%). Of the 2461 visits to the ED, 419 (17%) were admitted to the hospital.

CONCLUSIONS

High rates of ED use were observed among HIV-positive IDUs, a behavior that was predicted by unstable housing and limited access to primary care. Factors other than HIV infection seem to be driving ED use among this population in the post-highly active antiretroviral therapy era.

Inpatient health services utilization among HIV-infected adult patients in care 2002-2007

OBJECTIVE

This study examines the frequency of inpatient hospitalization, the number of inpatient days, and factors associated with inpatient utilization in a multistate HIV cohort between 2002 and 2007.

DESIGN

A prospective cohort study of HIV-infected adults in care at 11 US HIV primary and specialty care sites located in different geographic regions.

METHODS

Demographic, clinical, and resource utilization data were collected from medical records for the years 2002-2007. Rates of resource use were calculated for number of hospital admissions, total inpatient days, and mean length of stay per admission.

RESULTS

Annual inpatient hospitalization rates significantly decreased from 35 to 27 per 100 persons from 2002 to 2007. The number of inpatient days per year significantly decreased over time, whereas mean length of stay per admission was stable. Women, patients 50 years or older, blacks, injection drug users, and patients without private insurance had higher hospitalization rates than their counterparts. Admission rates were lower for patients with high CD4 counts and low HIV-1 RNA levels.

CONCLUSIONS

Inpatient hospitalization rates and number of inpatient days decreased for HIV patients in this multistate cohort between 2002 and 2007. Sociodemographic disparities in inpatient utilization persist.