Patients with sexually transmitted infection (STI) diagnosis
should be tested for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), regardless of previous
HIV test results.
Estimate HIV testing rates among recent service Veterans
with an STI diagnosis and variation in testing rates by patient characteristics.
The sample comprised 243,843 Veterans who initiated Veterans
Health Administration (VHA) services within 1 year after military separation.
Participants were followed for 2 years to determine STI diagnoses and HIV
testing rates. We used relative risks regression to examine variation in
testing rates.
We used VHA administrative data to identify STI diagnoses
and HIV testing and results.
Veterans with an STI diagnosis (n = 1815) had higher HIV
testing rates than those without (34.9% vs. 7.3%), but were not
more likely to have a positive test result (1.1% vs. 1.4%). Among
Veterans with an STI diagnosis, testing increased from 25% to 45% over the
observation period; older age was associated with a lower rate of testing,
whereas race and ethnicity, multiple deployments, posttraumatic stress
disorder, and substance abuse disorders were associated with a higher rate.
Since VHA implemented routine HIV testing, overall rates of
testing have increased. However, among Veterans at significant risk for HIV
because of an STI diagnosis, only 45% had an HIV test in the most recent year
of observation. Other patient characteristics such as alcohol and drug abuse
were associated with being tested for HIV. Providers should be reminded that an
STI is a sufficient reason to test for HIV.
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full article at:
- 1*VA Connecticut Healthcare System †Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT ‡Office of Public Health, Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC Departments of §Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Emergency Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, Yale School of Nursing, New Haven, CT.
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