High Prevalence of Unhealthy Alcohol Use Among Persons with HIV, Viral Non-suppression and Any Alcohol Use in Mbarara, Uganda: A Brief Report
Unhealthy alcohol use is associated with HIV viral non-suppression. It is unclear how common unhealthy alcohol use is among non-suppressed persons with HIV (PWH) who drink alcohol. We conducted chart reviews to recruit PWH in Uganda with recent viral non-suppression for a study on the efficacy of gabapentin for promoting viral suppression among those with unhealthy alcohol use. Of the 288 PWH screened, 87% self-reported unhealthy alcohol use on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption and 73% tested positive for urine ethyl glucuronide. These data suggest that alcohol interventions are needed among Ugandan PWH with viral non-suppression and who drink.
Authors
- Rebecca Fisk-Hoffman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2421-2601)
- Judith A. Hahn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2697-8264)
- Natalia Gnatienko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0019-762X)
- Jeffrey H. Samet (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0897-3400)
- Allen Kekibiina (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2835-8528)
- Lunze Karsten
- Winnie R. Muyindike (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6694-2645)
- Wuji Shan
- Olivia Allison
- Nneka Emenyonu
- Leah Forman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1953-2739)
- Ve Truong
- Judith I. Tsui (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0877-5399)
- Patrick Agumenaitwe
- Huimin Cheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7992-8175)
Institutions
- Boston University (US)
- Boston Medical Center (US)
- Mbarara University of Science and Technology (UG)
- University of California, San Francisco (US)
- University of Washington (US)
- Department of Health (TW)
Publication Details
- Journal
- AIDS and Behavior
- Published
- 2026-05-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-026-05184-5
- Primary Topic
- HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases