People With Mental Illness Are More Likely To Be Tested For HIV

So can somebody do the math for me? Does this show that people with schizophrenia were found to have a higher rate of HIV than those without a mental disorder?

It’s a good thing for anyone to know.

That’s what the article I posted says. We can either cry "stigma " or see awareness of the problem as a stepping stone to more effective prevention.

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HIV
A recent study published in the journal AIDS Patient Care and STDs shows that HIV/AIDS is about four times higher among mentally ill people than in the general population.

http://www.scienceworldreport.com/articles/19720/20141206/hiv-testing-higher-in-mentally-ill-individuals.htm

This ties in with http://www.aidsmeds.com/articles/mental_illness_1667_25216.shtml

It is also true that impulsive behaviour, risk taking and promiscuity are common in people in a manic state, particularly in bipolar disorder so some people with MI are at higher risk. Also, when I read it I wondered, isn’t AIDS associated with dementia? So if someone presents with psychosis, doctors may be running a number of tests to narrow down the possibilities and get a diagnosis.

Actually - as I think about this - this is probably most relevant for people with bipolar disorders - with Mania specifically. I think I’ve read that those people tend to take more risks when they are manic.

Also - sadly I’ve heard many instances of women with schizophrenia who get raped - more so than the average population - so they are also probably at a higher risk.

I highly doubt that. Sounds like a total generalization.

I wonder how many people would be offended if it was cardiac testing instead of HIV testing.

So you meet the love of your life. You finally work up the courage to tell her you have a mental illness and she freaks out not because of your illness, but, because you probably have HIV… Alright, same scenario but with cardiac issues.

I see where you’re coming from but if anyone should be aware of stigma, for any illness, and how it needs to be changed, it’s us. The diseases are totally different but we’re all in the same boat as far as stigma goes, schizophrenics, HIV patients, and lepers.

And that’s all fine and good and all, but, I am doubting that HIV patients want to have “higher rates of schizophrenia” thrown into their stigma either! My point is, why even publish something like that? I don’t feel as if the positive out weighs the negative.

Please quote the part of the article that says that. I’m talking about schizophrenia specifically - not mental illness in general.

I can’t process math problems well, so I couldn’t figure out exactly what the different percentages suggested.

I don’t mind being tested. If I fit the profile, I would be. But I’d rather manage it myself than being treated as if I can’t take care of things myself, especially based on a survey that misleads by grouping all mental illnesses as being one + the same.

Found this from 2013. I quote :

Blank, Mandell, Aiken & Hadley [4] first conducted a cross-sectional study to merge Medicaid claims data and the welfare recipient files for fiscal years 1994 through 1996 to calculate the treated prevalence of SMI and HIV in the Medicaid population and the odds of receiving an HIV diagnosis conditional on SMI. The results indicated that the treated period prevalence of HIV among Medicaid recipients without an SMI diagnosis was .3% compared to .8% of those with a schizophrenia diagnosis and 1.7% of those with affective disorder, for a total risk among those with SMI of 1.6%. After controlling for sex, age, race, and time on welfare, the odds of having an HIV diagnosis given a diagnosis of schizophrenia was 1.52; the odds given a diagnosis of affective disorder was 3.87. We concluded that the rate of HIV was significantly elevated among those with SMI and that risk associated with affective disorder was even higher than for schizophrenia.

In a large sample of patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders treated through the VA system, Himelhoch and his colleagues found an interaction where people with schizophrenia and co-morbid substance abuse were at markedly greater risk for HIV infections but in the absence of a substance use diagnosis people with schizophrenia alone were actually at lower risk for HIV infections than the general VA population [7]. Clearly, comprehensive screening for HIV risk among psychiatric inpatients needs to include a substance abuse screen.

http://nucleionline.org/manuscripts/20000003-Individualized-Treatment-for-Treatment-of-HIV-among-Persons-with-Mental-Illness.pdf

Thanks, though I’m not good at reading. The concluding line still groups all psychiatric patients/illness as one.

I think I am sensitive about being looked at as a second class citizen + having no validity or intelligence by some people. In everyday life I come across it.

Also I have a - justifiable for anyone - fear of witch hunt like behavior. Especially against those who don’t have what it takes to stand up for themselves. There have been sterilization programs toward such people.

That’s because schizophrenia is not the only severe metal illness and the pdf is titled “Individualized Treatment for Treatment of HIV among Persons with Mental Illness”
however I have quoted bits relevant to schizophrenia.

OK.

I wonder if the above would carry over to the general population. Or are substance users included in the general VA population.

Thanks for your research. It seems inconclusive about schizophrenia and HIV to me.

It said to me sz without substance abuse=lower risk
sz with substance abuse=higher risk
Therefore sz by itself is not a factor in increased rates. To me it’s another call to take dual diagnosis more seriously.

It said lower than the general VA population. There could be a lot of drug users there from various wars.

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I know as a drug user, and being in a lot of state hospitals, my son contracted hepatitus b and c.
His lifestyle was very scary! He does not want to know if he has anything…he should be tested for everything.**

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I agree - sorry about the lifestyle your son got into + in those places.

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