Epidemiologic studies on HIV/AIDS and drug abuse.

The HIV and drug abuse epidemics are intertwined, and drug abusers make up a significant proportion of reported AIDS patients. For a variety of reasons, it is difficult to collect and interpret data about each epidemic. It is even more difficult to determine the relationships between the two. In this paper, various epidemiologic studies in both fields are reviewed. Some strengths and limitations of those studies are discussed, and possible methods for improvement are identified.