# LSUHSC-NO Comprehensive Alcohol-HIV/AIDS Research Center

> **NIH NIH P60** · LSU HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER · 2021 · $109,700

## Abstract

Abstract Administrative Supplement Research Component 1 (RC1) Comprehensive Alcohol Research
Center. Community and Interpersonal Stress, Alcohol, and Chronic Comorbidities among PLWH.
Louisiana had the third highest rates of SARS-CoV-2 cases and the second highest deaths per capita in the
country during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The alarming high rate of mortality in New Orleans led to
strict government issued mandates for social distancing, self-quarantine, and shelter-in-place measures adding
challenges like unemployment, loss of social networks, fear, and decreased access to personally delivered
healthcare to the most vulnerable individuals. These stressful factors negatively impact pre-existing symptoms
of stress, anxiety, and depression and may have unwanted consequences that contribute to morbidity and
mortality of vulnerable populations. Persons living with HIV (PLWH) have an excessively high rate of exposure
to chronic and lifetime social stressors, that are linked to elevated rates of poorer mental health including
depressive disorders, alcohol use disorders (AUD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Alcohol
consumption tends to increase during times of duress and uncertainty, and alcohol is often misused to cope
with stress, anxiety, and other uncomfortable emotions. Psychiatric comorbidities decrease adherence to
antiretroviral therapy and increase risk for substance use that together may increase risk for comorbidities or
negatively impact disease progression particularly in aging PLWH. Heightened psychosocial and physiological
stress among PLWH is associated with poorer immune status, increased viral load over time, faster disease
progression, and higher rates of mortality. Our overarching hypothesis is that PLWH with AUD experience
greater psychobehavioral and biological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. This administrative
supplement proposes studies within the scope of those proposed in Specific Aim 1 of RC1: To examine the
impact of neighborhood and interpersonal stress on alcohol use and its associated comorbidities in
PLWH. This aim tests the hypotheses that a) Contextual stressors will be associated with alcohol use as well
as clinical comorbidities (e.g., mental health, cardiometabolic conditions, neurocognitive impairment, and
frailty) and b) Alcohol use mediates the relation between stress and clinical comorbidities. We propose to
obtain self-reported measures of stress, anxiety, depression, and alcohol use of PLWH and HIV seronegative
subjects enrolled in our longitudinal New Orleans Alcohol Use in HIV (NOAH) study during the pandemic.
Quantitative and qualitative data collected during the government mandated shelter-in-place and within 2
months of reopening of the city will be integrated with individual level demographic, clinical (including
serological immunological evidence of exposure), behavioral (alcohol use), and disease-specific (HIV viral
loads and CD4/CD8 counts) data to determine the impact ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10441633
- **Project number:** 3P60AA009803-28S2
- **Recipient organization:** LSU HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** PATRICIA E. MOLINA
- **Activity code:** P60 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $109,700
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 1996-12-01 → 2024-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10441633

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10441633, LSUHSC-NO Comprehensive Alcohol-HIV/AIDS Research Center (3P60AA009803-28S2). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10441633. Licensed CC0.

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