Better access to health insurance and transitional case-management services may improve retention in HIV care and viral suppression in incarcerated people living with HIV.
![Retention in HIV Care Declines After Prison Release
Retention in HIV Care Declines After Prison Release](https://images.medindia.net/health-images/1200_1000/prisoners.jpg)
The authors merged statewide databases from the Departments of Public Health and Correction on all people living with HIV who were released from prisons or jails in Connecticut between 2007 and 2011. Among 1,094 individuals included in the study, continuous retention in care declined over the three following years (67.2%, 51.3%, and 42.5%, respectively). Sustained retention in HIV care (RIC) and viral suppression (VS) three years after release were independently associated with older age (RIC: Adjusted Odds Ratio = 1.61]; 95% Confidence Interval [1.22, 2.12] and VS: AOR = 1.37; 95% CI [1.06, 1.78]), having health insurance (RIC: AOR = 2.15; 95% CI [1.60, 2.89] and VS: AOR = 2.01; 95% CI [1.53, 2.64], and receiving more transitional case-management services. Moreover, better treatment outcomes were strongly associated with receiving antiretroviral therapy during incarceration (RIC: AOR = 1.33; 95% CI [1.07, 1.65] and VS: AOR= 1.91; 95% CI [1.56, 2.34] and early access to care after release (RIC: AOR = 2.64; 95% CI [2.03, 3.43] and VS: AOR = 1.79; 95% CI [1.45, 2.21]).
Although prior studies suggest that prison provides a temporary window of opportunity to reconnect people to care, supporting community-based retention in HIV care efforts is critical for improving long-term treatment outcomes.
Source-Eurekalert