Assessing COVID-19 pandemic impacts on the health of PWID using a novel data sharing model

Heather Bradley; Nicole Luisi; Anastasia Carter; Terri D Pigott; Daniela Abramovitz; Sean T Allen; Alice Asher; Chelsea Austin; Tyler S Bartholomew; Marianna Baum; Amy Board; Basmattee Boodram; Annick Borquez; Kathryn A Brookmeyer; Kate Buchacz; Janet Burnett; Hannah L F Cooper; Nicole Crepaz; Kora Debeck; Judith Feinberg; Chunki Fong; Edward Freeman; Nathan Woo Furukawa; Becky Genberg; Pamina Gorbach; Holly Hagan; Kanna Hayashi; Emalie Huriaux; Hermione Hurley; Jeanne Keruly; Kathleen Kristensen; Shenghan Lai; Natasha K Martin; Pedro Mateu-Gelabert; Gregory M Mcclain Jr; Shruti Mehta; Wing Yin Mok; Marley Reynoso; Steffanie Strathdee; Nicole Torigian; Chenziheng Allen Weng; Ryan Westergaard; April Young; Don C Des Jarlais

doi:10.1097/QAD.0000000000004076

Assessing COVID-19 pandemic impacts on the health of PWID using a novel data sharing model

AIDS. 2024 Nov 28. doi: 10.1097/QAD.0000000000004076. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Heather Bradley¹, Nicole Luisi¹, Anastasia Carter¹, Terri D Pigott², Daniela Abramovitz³, Sean T Allen⁴, Alice Asher⁵, Chelsea Austin², Tyler S Bartholomew⁶, Marianna Baum⁷, Amy Board⁵, Basmattee Boodram⁸, Annick Borquez³, Kathryn A Brookmeyer⁵, Kate Buchacz⁵, Janet Burnett⁵, Hannah L F Cooper¹, Nicole Crepaz⁵, Kora Debeck⁹, Judith Feinberg¹⁰, Chunki Fong¹¹, Edward Freeman¹², Nathan Woo Furukawa⁵, Becky Genberg⁴, Pamina Gorbach¹³, Holly Hagan¹⁴, Kanna Hayashi⁹, Emalie Huriaux¹⁵, Hermione Hurley¹⁶, Jeanne Keruly¹⁷, Kathleen Kristensen⁸, Shenghan Lai¹⁸, Natasha K Martin³, Pedro Mateu-Gelabert¹¹, Gregory M Mcclain Jr¹⁹, Shruti Mehta⁴, Wing Yin Mok²⁰, Marley Reynoso¹⁴, Steffanie Strathdee³, Nicole Torigian⁴, Chenziheng Allen Weng¹⁴, Ryan Westergaard¹⁹, April Young¹², Don C Des Jarlais¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ Emory University Rollins School of Public Health; 1518 Clifton Rd. NE, Atlanta, GA 30322.
² Georgia State University School of Public Health; 33 Gilmer St. SE, Atlanta, GA 30303.
³ University of California San Diego School of Medicine; 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92093.
⁴ Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; 615 N. Wolfe St., Baltimore, MD 21205.
⁵ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 1600 Clifton Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30329.
⁶ University of Miami Miller School of Medicine; 1600 NW 10th Ave #1140, Miami, FL 33136.
⁷ Florida International University R. Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work; 11200 SW 8th Street AHC5, Miami, FL 33199.
⁸ University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health; 1603 W. Taylor St., Chicago, IL, 60612.
⁹ Simon Fraser University; 8888 University Dr., Burnaby, B.C. V5A 1S6.
¹⁰ West Virginia University Health Sciences; 64 Medical Center Dr., P.O. Box 9600, Morgantown, WV 26506.
¹¹ City University of New York School of Public Health and Health Policy; 55 West 125th St., New York, NY 10027.
¹² University of Kentucky College of Public Health; 111 Washington Ave., Lexington, KY 40536.
¹³ University of California Los Angeles Fielding School of Public Health; 650 Charles E. Young Dr. South, Los Angeles, CA 90095.
¹⁴ New York University School of Global Public Health; 708 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.
¹⁵ Washington State Department of Health; 111 Israel Rd SE, Turnwater, WA 98501.
¹⁶ University of Colorado School of Medicine; 13001 East 17th Place, Campus Box C290, Aurora, CO 80045.
¹⁷ Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; 733 N Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21205.
¹⁸ University of Maryland School of Medicine; 655 W. Baltimore St., Baltimore, MD 21201.
¹⁹ University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health; 750 Highland Ave., Madison, WI 53705.
²⁰ British Columbia Centre on Substance Use; 400-1045 Howe St, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2A9.

PMID: 39612241
DOI: 10.1097/QAD.0000000000004076

Abstract

Objective: Using an innovative data sharing model, we assessed the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health of people who inject drugs (PWID).

Design: The PWID Data Collaborative was established in 2021 to promote data sharing across PWID studies in North America. Contributing studies submitted aggregate data on 23 standardized indicators during four time periods: pre-pandemic (Mar 2019 - Feb 2020), early-pandemic (Mar 2020 - Feb 2021), mid-pandemic (Mar 2021 - Feb 2022), and late pandemic (Mar 2022 - Feb 2023).

Methods: We present study-specific and meta-analyzed estimates for the percentage of PWID who took medications for opioid use disorder, received substance use treatment, shared syringes or injection equipment, had a mental health condition, had been incarcerated, or had experienced houselessness. To examine change over time across indicators, we fit a random effects meta-regression model to prevalence estimates using time as a moderator.

Results: Thirteen studies contributed estimates to the Data Collaborative on these indicators, representing 6,213 PWID interviews. We observed minimal change across prevalence of the six indicators between the pre-pandemic (March 2019 - February 2020) and three subsequent time periods, overall or within individual studies. Considerable heterogeneity was observed across study- and time-specific estimates.

Conclusions: Limited pandemic-related change observed in indicators of PWID health is likely a result of policy and supportive service-related changes and may also reflect resilience among service providers and PWID themselves. The Data Collaborative is an unprecedented data sharing model with potential to greatly improve the quality and timeliness of data on the health of PWID.