TY - JOUR
T1 - What Factors Are Associated With Receiving a Recommendation to Get Tested for HIV by Health Care Providers Among Men Who Have Sex With Men?
AU - Vincent, Wilson
AU - McFarland, Willi
AU - Raymond, H. Fisher
N1 - Funding Information:
From the *HIV Seroepidemiology Unit, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco; and †San Francisco Department of Public Health, Center for Public Health Research, San Francisco, CA. Data collection for this analysis was supported by CDC Grant #U1BPS003247. The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose. Correspondence to: H. Fisher Raymond, DrPH, SFDPH, 25 Van Ness, Suite 500, San Francisco, CA 94102 (e-mail: hfisher.raymond@sfdph.org). Copyright © 2017 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2017 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.
PY - 2017/7/1
Y1 - 2017/7/1
N2 - Background: The approach of treatment as prevention for reducing HIV incidence and prevalence hinges on early detection of HIV infection and treatment to achieve viral suppression and, thus, to reduce HIV transmissibility. However, men who have sex with men (MSM), who are at greater risk of HIV infection than the average adult in the United States, are often not tested because many providers do not provide routine opt-out testing or even recommend HIV testing. Methods: In a sample of 244 MSM in San Francisco, CA, this study examined whether (1) sociodemographic characteristics (ie, youth, education, employment status, being African American, being Latino), (2) health care access and utilization, and (3) participants disclosing their sexual orientation to their health care providers were associated with their odds of having received a recommendation from a health care provider for HIV testing. Results: Results showed that none of the sociodemographic or health care-related factors were associated with whether a health care provider recommended HIV testing, but MSM disclosing their sexual orientation to their health care providers was associated with an over 8 times greater odds of MSM receiving a recommendation for HIV testing. Conclusion: The study findings underscore the need for routine opt-out HIV testing to screen members of high-risk populations who may not enter the HIV continuum of care and for health care providers to be able to ask patients about HIV risk behavior and sexual orientation and behavior.
AB - Background: The approach of treatment as prevention for reducing HIV incidence and prevalence hinges on early detection of HIV infection and treatment to achieve viral suppression and, thus, to reduce HIV transmissibility. However, men who have sex with men (MSM), who are at greater risk of HIV infection than the average adult in the United States, are often not tested because many providers do not provide routine opt-out testing or even recommend HIV testing. Methods: In a sample of 244 MSM in San Francisco, CA, this study examined whether (1) sociodemographic characteristics (ie, youth, education, employment status, being African American, being Latino), (2) health care access and utilization, and (3) participants disclosing their sexual orientation to their health care providers were associated with their odds of having received a recommendation from a health care provider for HIV testing. Results: Results showed that none of the sociodemographic or health care-related factors were associated with whether a health care provider recommended HIV testing, but MSM disclosing their sexual orientation to their health care providers was associated with an over 8 times greater odds of MSM receiving a recommendation for HIV testing. Conclusion: The study findings underscore the need for routine opt-out HIV testing to screen members of high-risk populations who may not enter the HIV continuum of care and for health care providers to be able to ask patients about HIV risk behavior and sexual orientation and behavior.
KW - HIV testing
KW - Men who have sex with men
KW - Routine opt-out testing
KW - Treatment as prevention
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U2 - 10.1097/QAI.0000000000001411
DO - 10.1097/QAI.0000000000001411
M3 - Article
C2 - 28604439
AN - SCOPUS:85031033600
SN - 1525-4135
VL - 75
SP - S357-S362
JO - Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes
JF - Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes
ER -