Death after diagnosis of noncommunicable disease comorbid conditions, stratified by injection drug use.

OBJECTIVE: Describe all-cause mortality associated with history of injection drug use (IDU) after a validated diagnosis of four noncommunicable disease (NCD) diagnoses: end-stage liver disease (ESLD); end-stage renal disease (ESRD); cancer; or myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke.

DESIGN: We followed four cohorts of persons in continuity HIV care in the Johns Hopkins HIV Clinic with a validated diagnosis of ESLD (n = 67), ESRD (n = 187), cancer (n = 424), and MI or stroke (n = 213) from 1996 through approximately 2014.

METHODS: Crude and adjusted Cox proportional hazards models to estimate hazard ratios for death after a validated diagnosis of one of four NCD diagnoses associated with history of IDU as an HIV acquisition risk factor.

RESULTS: History of IDU was not associated with death after ESRD (adjusted hazard ratio 0.98, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.57-1.68). Associations between history of IDU and death after ESLD and MI or stroke were weak, imprecise and not statistically significant (hazard ratio 1.17, 95% CI 0.63-2.19; hazard ratio 1.21, 95% CI 0.80-1.83). History of IDU was not associated with death after cancer in the first 6 months, but subsequently, the adjusted hazard ratio was 2.03 (95% CI 1.26-3.27).

CONCLUSION: Persons with a history of injection drug use and non-IDU had strikingly similar risk and hazard of mortality after several major NCD diagnoses. Mortality after cancer diagnosis in this cohort was higher for persons with a history of IDU than those without; this may be because of being diagnosed with a different mix of specific sites and stages of cancers.