Indicators of nutritional status among clients from a New York City methadone treatment center

As the AIDS epidemic in the United States moves steadily into the IV drug-abusing population, knowledge of factors related to immune suppression and disease progression gain in public health importance. Indicators of nutritional status, consisting of anthropometric and hematologic data as well as de...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of substance abuse treatment 1990, Vol.7 (3), p.161-165
Main Authors: Herbert, James R., Nichols, Stuart E., Kabat, Geoffrey C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Addictive behaviors
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Biological and medical sciences
body height
Body Mass Index
Body weight
Female
Hematocrit
hematologic test
Hemoglobins - analysis
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Methadone - therapeutic use
methadone treatment
Middle Aged
New York City
Nutritional Status
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Substance Abuse Treatment Centers
Substance-Related Disorders - blood
Substance-Related Disorders - immunology
Substance-Related Disorders - therapy
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Summary:As the AIDS epidemic in the United States moves steadily into the IV drug-abusing population, knowledge of factors related to immune suppression and disease progression gain in public health importance. Indicators of nutritional status, consisting of anthropometric and hematologic data as well as demographic data, were obtained from a random sample of 130 clients in a New York City methadone treatment center. Subjects for this study were selected according to the entry criteria established for inclusion in a large-scale study of the role of nutritional factors and cell-mediated immunity in a group at high risk of HIV seropositivity. Our results indicate a larger than U.S. population-average heterogeneity for Body Mass Index, hematocrit, and hemoglobin concentration, parameters which are conventionally thought to be proxies for general nutritional status. The findings indicate that while some methadone treatment clients are at low nutritional risk, others are probably at very high risk of adverse drug-nutrient and drug-body habitus interactions as well as being at high risk of acquiring infections commonly associated with HIV-related immunodeficiency.
ISSN:0740-5472
1873-6483
DOI:10.1016/0740-5472(90)90017-K