Triple Fatal Overdose Rates & Higher Risk of HIV Seroconversion Haven’t Stopped Gay Men From Slamming Meth with Abandon
Share
Fatal overdoses from meth amphetamine (aka crystal meth aka tina) have nearly tripled since 2015 while gay men continue to prefer inject or slam the drug at a higher per capita rate than any other group.
The Washington Post: Methamphetamine overdoses are on the rise, a study published in JAMA Psychiatry says. When researchers from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed data from 2015 to 2019, they found that meth overdose deaths in the United States had almost tripled.
During that time span, meth-related overdoses rose from 5,526 to 15,489. This was accompanied by a 43 percent increase in people reporting meth use. Researchers believe over 2 million adults used meth during the period, up from 1.4 million.
And within those data sets: Gay men had the highest prevalence of meth injection.
And Persistent use of methamphetamine is the single biggest risk factor for HIV seroconversion among gay and bisexual men, according to a new study published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. Using subjects from across the U.S., including Puerto Rico and Guam, researchers found that over 12 months of follow-up, 14% of study participants reported using meth, and 2.5% tested positive for HIV (115 new infections). More than a third of study participants (36%) seroconverting for HIV were persistent users of methamphetamine.
The study led by Christian Grov, Ph.D., M.P.H., of the City University of New York, recruited subjects in 2017 and 2018 through ads in gay hookup apps. TheBody, explains the study’s definition of “persistent” meth use as slightly vague, because researchers measured a year prior to enrollment, though their enrollment survey only asked about the prior three months. “We detected meth use at baseline and again a year later; more specifically, subjects who reported meth use within the three months prior to enrollment and reported use at sometime between enrollment and the month 12 assessment.”
Grov didn’t set out to explore the risk of meth specifically; they were looking more broadly at risk factors for seroconversion among gay and bisexual men. “We didn’t expect meth to be such a big factor,” Grov said. “But now it flags us to study (meth use) more carefully.”
People reported more frequent meth use and more frequent use of methamphetamine and cocaine together. Those who inject meth were more likely to report that they used the drug more than 100 days per year. Riskier behavior might have been one reason that overdoses increased so sharply despite the number of users rising at a slower rate.
“What makes these data even more devastating is that currently, there are no approved medications to treat methamphetamine use disorder,” said Emily Einstein, NIDA science policy branch chief and co-author, in a news release.
