University of Florida to Study Problem Drinking Among Women With HIV

The University of Florida, in conjunction with Florida International University, the University of Miami, and Rush University in Chicago, received a $2.7 million grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism for research on whether a prescription medication can help women with HIV restrict their use of alcohol.

More than 290,000 women in the United States are living with HIV. As many as 24 percent of these women have problems with alcohol. Studies have shown that problematic drinking can result in women neglecting to take their HIV medications and also they have an increased risk of unprotected sex. Women with HIV who consumer large amounts of alcohol are also subjected to more rapid disease progression.

The study will include a clinical trial in which women with HIV will be given the drug naltrexone. The drug has been shown to reduce problem drinking in men but has not been tested on women or on people with HIV.