The prevalence and factors associated with alcohol use disorder among people living with HIV/AIDS in Africa: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) in HIV/AIDS patient’s decreases adherence and effectiveness of medications and help-seeking to HIV/AIDS care and treatment. This study, therefore, assessed the average 1 year prevalence and associated factors of alcohol use disorder in HIV/AIDS patients.

Methods

We did an electronic data search on PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, Psych-INFO libraries, African index Medicus and African Journals Online (AJOL). Google scholar was also investigated for non-published articles. The reference lists of published articles were also reviewed. The stata-11meta-prop package was employed. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were done. Cochran’s Q-statistics and the Higgs I ² test were used to check heterogeneity. Publication bias was evaluated with Egger’s test and funnel plots.

Results

Of 1362 articles identified using the search strategies; only 22 studies were included in the final analysis. The average 1 year prevalence of AUD was 22.03% (95% CI: 17.18, 28.67). The average prevalence of AUD in South Africa (28.77%) was higher than in Uganda (16.61%) and Nigeria (22.8%). The prevalence of AUD in studies published before 2011, 2011–2015, and after 2015 was found to be 13.47, 24.93, and 22.88% respectively. The average prevalence of AUD among studies with a sample size > 450 was 16.71% whereas it was 26.46% among studies with a sample size < 450. Furthermore, the average prevalence of hazardous, harmful, and dependent drinking was 10.87, 8.1, and 3.12% respectively. Our narrative analysis showed that male sex, cigarette smoking, family history of alcohol use, missing ART medication, mental distress, khat chewing, low CD4 count, and low income were among the associated factors for AUD in people with HIV AIDS. On quantitative meta-analysis for associated factors of AUD, the AOR of being male, Cigarette smoking and khat chewing were 5.5, 3.95, and 3.34 respectively.

Conclusion

The average 1 year prevalence of AUD in HIV/AIDs patients was high and qualitatively factors such as being Male, cigarette smoking, and khat chewing were associated with it. Therefore, clinical services for people living with HIV/AIDS should integrate this public health problem. Policymakers should also develop guidelines and implementation strategies for addressing this problem.