Depression and antidepressant use among people living with HIV in Hawaii: focus on Native Hawaiians.

Depression, including antidepressant use, has not been widely studied in the HIV-positive population or at all in HIV-positive Native Hawaiians. Of 1016 clients in Hawaii's HIV Seropositivity and Medical Management Program in 2001-2002, 300 (30%) reported having depression and half reported taking antidepressants. Native Hawaiians had the lowest depression rates of any group. Antidepressant use did not vary by race/ethnicity

A descriptive epidemiologic study of HIV-infected individuals in Hawaii: report of the Hawaii Sero-Positivity and Medical Management database (HSPAMM).

This is a retrospective study of the HSPAMM database evaluating differences in clinical, laboratory, HIV-risk factors and demographic characteristics with respect to gender and ethnicity. There were no significant differences comparing gender, and Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians with respect to developing a CD4 count < 200 cells/mm3. HSPAMM contains information on a large number of HIV-infected Asians/Pacific Islanders.G12 RR/AI 03061/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/United State

ETHNIC DIFFERENCES IN HIV DISEASE PROGRESSION: A COMPARISON OF ASIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDERS AND WHITES LIVING IN HAWAII

Objective: To characterize the association of demographic factors with the relative hazards (RH) of developing AIDS or death among HIV-infected individuals of Asian/Pacific Islander (API) ethnicity and Whites. Design: Cohort study Setting: Hawaii State Health Department database of HIV-infected individuals Patients or Participants: Hawaii Sero-Positivity and Medical Management (HSPAMM) program participants from January 1989 to November 2002 Interventions: None Main Outcome Measures: Differences in the time to develop AIDS or death among HIV-infected individuals who reported being on highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) were examined by ethnicity, income, and CD4+ cell counts at HAART initiation by using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazard analyses. Results: The study was based on 516 HIVinfected individuals, who were primarily White (61.0%) and API (21.7%). Whites had a significantly higher CD4+ cell count (P,.01) and income (P,.01) than APIs at enrollment into HSPAMM. Lower income levels and CD4+ cell counts at HAART initiation were strongly associated with an increased RH of developing AIDS or dying. Despite having significantly lower incomes and CD4+ cell counts at enrollment, individuals of API ethnicity do not have an increased RH of developing the outcomes compared to Whites. Conclusion: Lower income and CD4+ cell counts at HAART initiation significantly increased the RH of developing AIDS or dying among HIV-infected individuals. Asian/Pacific Islander (API) ethnicity was not a predictor of developing AIDS or dying