Inability to access health and social services associated with mental health among people who inject drugs in a Canadian setting.

ABSTRACT:

Background

People who inject drugs (PWID) face barriers to healthcare due to reasons including comorbidity. We evaluated access to health and social services by three of the most prevalent comorbid conditions among PWID: HIV, hepatitis C (HCV), and mental health, in an urban setting in Canada.

Methods

Data were derived from prospective cohorts of community-recruited PWID between 2005 and 2015. HIV and HCV serostatuses were based on antibody tests, while mental health conditions and inability to access health and social services (barriers to access) were determined by participants' self-report. We employed generalized linear mixed models controlling for confounders to examine associations between health conditions and barriers to access.

Results

Among 2494 participants

SUBMITTER: Wang L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5086265 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature