Respondent-driven sampling is more efficient than facility-based strategies at identifying undiagnosed people who inject drugs living with HIV in India.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Injection drug use drives HIV epidemics in many low-resource settings, yet many people who inject drugs (PWID) living with HIV are not diagnosed. We assessed the ability of respondent-driven sampling (RDS) - which uses peer network connections - to identify undiagnosed PWID living with HIV compared to a facility-based strategy in India.

Methods

In six Indian cities from 2014 to 2017, integrated care centers (ICCs) provided HIV testing. From 2016 to 2017, RDS samples of PWID in these same cities were conducted. Using biometric matching, characteristics associated with identification by RDS only and both RDS and ICC, compared to ICC only were explored. Undiagnosed individuals tested positive and did not report a prior diagnosis. The number needed to recruit (NNR)

SUBMITTER: McFall AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10330670 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature