Repeat Western blot testing after receiving an HIV diagnosis and its association with engagement in care (original) (raw)

Monitoring retention in care: using multiple laboratory tests as an indicator for HIV medical care

AIDS care, 2014

Retention in care is an important strategy for HIV prevention. Unfortunately, surveillance systems were not designed to capture face-to-face visits with HIV health care providers to assess retention in care. Instead, HIV-related laboratory tests are used as a surrogate measure. This study estimated the sensitivity (90%) and specificity (28%) of two HIV-related laboratory tests separated by at least 90 days for two face-to-face visits among people receiving HIV-related health care in Oregon. Overall accuracy of the surrogate was good but slightly overestimated the proportion of people living with HIV/AIDS actually retained in care.

Vital Signs: Human Immunodeficiency Virus Testing and Diagnosis Delays - United States

MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 2017

Persons unaware of their human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection account for approximately 40% of ongoing transmissions in the United States. Persons are unaware of their infection because of delayed HIV diagnoses that represent substantial missed opportunities to improve health outcomes and prevent HIV transmission. Data from CDC's National HIV Surveillance System were used to estimate, among persons with HIV infection diagnosed in 2015, the median interval (and range) from infection to diagnosis (diagnosis delay), based on the first CD4 test after HIV diagnosis and a CD4 depletion model indicating disease progression and, among persons living with HIV in 2015, the percentage with undiagnosed infection. Data from CDC's National HIV Behavioral Surveillance were analyzed to determine the percentage of persons at increased risk for HIV infection who had tested in the past 12 months and who had missed opportunities for testing. An estimated 15% of persons living with HIV i...

Expanded HIV Testing and Linkage to Care: Conventional vs. Point-of-Care Testing and Assignment of Patient Notification and Linkage to Care to an HIV Care Program

Public health reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974)

The University of Chicago Medicine (UCM) led the Expanded Testing and Linkage to Care (X-TLC) program for disproportionately affected populations on the South Side of Chicago. The X-TLC program aimed to expand routine HIV testing to high-prevalence communities with disproportionately affected populations (i.e., minority men and women, men who have sex with men, and intravenous drug users) according to CDC guidelines at multiple clinical sites. The X-TLC program used standard blood-based laboratory testing vs. point-of-care rapid testing or rapid laboratory testing with point-of-care results notification. Site coordinators and the linkage-to-care coordinator at UCM oversaw testing, test notification, and linkage to care. From February 1, 2011, through December 31, 2013, the X-TLC program completed 75,345 HIV tests on 67,153 unique patients. Of the total tests, 48,044 (63.8%) were performed on patients who self-identified as African American and 6,606 (8.8%) were performed on patients...

Identifying New Positives and Linkage to HIV Medical Care - 23 Testing Site Types, United States, 2013

MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 2015

Among the estimated 1.2 million persons living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in the United States, approximately 14% have not had their HIV diagnosed. Certain populations, such as African Americans/blacks (in this report referred to as blacks), men who have sex with men (MSM), and Hispanics/Latinos (in this report referred to as Hispanics), are disproportionately affected by HIV. In areas where HIV prevalence is ≥0.1%, CDC recommends routine HIV screening in health care settings for persons aged 13-64 years. Implementation of HIV screening as part of routine care can increase the number of HIV diagnoses, destigmatize HIV testing, and improve access to care for persons with new HIV infections. Additionally, targeted testing in non-health care settings might facilitate access to persons in at-risk populations (e.g., MSM, blacks, and Hispanics) who are unaware of their status and do not routinely seek care. CDC analyzed data for 23 testing site types submitted by 61...

Routine HIV Testing among Providers of HIV Care in the United States, 2009

PLoS ONE, 2013

In 2006, CDC recommended HIV screening as part of routine medical care for all persons aged 13-64 years. We examined adherence to the recommendations among a sample of HIV care providers in the US to determine if known providers of HIV care are offering routine HIV testing in outpatient settings. Data were from the CDC's Medical Monitoring Project Provider Survey, administered to physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants from June-September 2009. We assessed bivariate associations between testing behaviors and provider and practice characteristics and used multivariate regression to determine factors associated with offering HIV screening to all patients aged 13-64 years. Sixty percent of providers reported offering HIV screening to all patients 13 to 64 years of age. Being a nurse practitioner (aOR = 5.6, 95% CI = 2.6-11.9) compared to physician, age,39 (aOR = 1.9, 95% CI = 1.0-3.5) or 39-49 (aOR = 2.1, 95% CI = 1.4-3.3) compared with $50 years, and black race (aOR = 2.6, 95% CI = 1.2-6.0) compared with white race was associated with offering testing to all patients. Providers with low (aOR = 0.2, 95% CI = 0.1-0.3) or medium (aOR = 0.4, 95% CI = 0.2-0.6) HIV-infected patient loads were less likely to offer HIV testing to all patients compared with providers with high patient loads. Many providers of HIV care are still conducting risk-based rather than routine testing. We found that provider profession, age, race, and HIVinfected patient load were associated with offering HIV testing. Health care providers should use patient encounters as an opportunity to offer routine HIV testing to patients as outlined in CDC's revised recommendations for HIV testing in health care settings.

Risk-Based HIV Testing in South Carolina Health Care Settings Failed to Identify the Majority of Infected Individuals

AIDS Patient Care and STDs, 2009

To provide evidence of large numbers of missed opportunities for early HIV diagnosis we designed a retrospective cohort study linking surveillance data from the South Carolina HIV=AIDS Reporting System to a statewide all payer health care database. We determined visits and diagnoses occurring before the date of the first positive HIV test and medical encounters were categorized to distinguish visits that were likely versus unlikely to have prompted an HIV test. Of the 4117 HIV-positive individuals newly diagnosed between 2001 and 2005, 3021 (73.4%) visited a South Carolina health care facility one or more times prior to testing HIV positive. Of these 3021, 1311 (43.4%) were late testers, and 1425 (47.2%) were early testers. Females were less likely than males to be late testers (odds ratio [OR] 0.55, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.45-0.68), blacks were more likely than whites to be late testers (OR 1.37, 95% CI 1.10-1.71), and persons 50 years of age and older more likely to be late testers (OR 7.16,. A total of 78.8% of the 13,448 health care visits for both late and early testers were for health care diagnoses unlikely to prompt an HIV test. These findings underscore the need for more routine HIV testing of adults and adolescents visiting health care facilities in order to facilitate early diagnosis.

(2002) The Dynamics of Repeat HIV Testing, and Interventions for Repeat HIV Testers

This paper attempts to better understand the dynamics of repeat HIV testing behavior. It suggests that different types of HIV risk dynamics characterize different types of repeat testers, and proposes a new set of alternatives to use to "triage" repeat testers for further intervention. Those for whom repeat testing is more "optimal" would be tested and counseled as usual (e.g., in the case of those originally tested during the "window period"), or would be tested and then referred to HIV prevention case management (e.g., in the case of chronic high-risk individuals). Those for whom repeat testing is less than optimal (e.g., the neurotic "worried well"; those with information deficits prompting repeat testing) may or may not be tested, depending on the specifics of their situation, and would be provided with services to address the causes of their repeat testing and to reduce its occurrence.