CDC: Many Individuals at Risk of HIV Do Not Get Screened Annually

Less than half of adults have ever gotten tested for HIV,

according to researchers from the CDC

. Additionally, many people at high risk of getting HIV—including those who inject drugs, gay and bisexual men, and partners of people with HIV—are not screened annually and experience delays in diagnosis.

Using data from the biennial, household-based, multistage probability General Social Survey from 2006 to 2016, the researchers collected information on HIV-related risk behaviors and HIV testing. Respondents were categorized in 4 groups: men who had a male sex partner within the past 12 months, men who did not have a male sex partner within the past 12 months but had multiple female sex partners or injected drugs, women who had multiple sex partners or injected drugs within the past 12 months, and those who did not have any of these risks.

Of the 11,688 respondents, only 39.6% of had ever been tested for HIV. Among those who had been tested, the estimated median interval since their last test was approximately 3 years (1080 days). Only 62.2% of those who reported HIV-related risk behaviors in the past 12 months were ever tested for HIV, of which the median interval since their last test was 1.4 years (512 days).

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