NIDA Clinical Trials Network: Project HOPE. Hospital visit as Opportunity for Prevention and Engagement for HIV-infected drug users.

In the United States, approximately one-third of HIV-infected persons either delay seeking care or do not seek care until their disease has progressed to require acute treatment. These patients may cycle through emergency rooms and hospital inpatient wards. The majority of these individuals are from communities of color that have traditionally been medically underserved; many of them are also either active or former substance users. Beginning in 2012, NIDA Clinical Trials Network’s Project HOPE, a multi-site randomized clinical trial designed to evaluate three strategies for linking and retaining HIV-infected substance users, recruited 801 participants from 11 hospital settings across the U.S. This poster describes the study rationale and inclusion criteria for Project HOPE, as well as the baseline drug use and demographic characteristics for the project, which describe a marginalized population with multiple social and environmental problems.

Related protocols: CTN-0049