According to the Centers for Disease Control, the number of people who have received HIV testing has reached an all-time high, although there are currently more than 200,000 Americans living with HIV who are unaware of the infection.
These statistics are among several new findings in the CDC’s recent Vital Signs report, released last week, which analyzed national survey data that looked at testing trends and infection rates.
The study, which utilized the National HIV Surveillance System, found that in 2009, 82.9 million adults between 18-64 were tested for HIV, an increase of 11.4 million from 2006, and the highest rate the CDC has ever seen. From 2001-06, the agency estimated that about 40 percent of Americans had been tested for HIV at least once in their lives, a figure it now puts at about 45 percent.
The percentage of adults who were diagnosed late in their HIV infection, shortly before AIDS developed, had been steady at 37 percent from 2001-04 but decreased to 32 percent by 2007, when the most recent data was available.
However, the CDC also reported that about 55 percent of adults, including more than 28 percent of those at risk for HIV, were unaware of their status.
Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, CDC director, said the study “shows that we have had progress increasing testing and that more progress is both necessary and possible. With most adults and with nearly a third of high-risk people having never been tested for HIV, we need to do more to ensure that all Americans have access to voluntary, routine and early HIV testing in order to save lives and reduce the spread of this terrible disease.”
Geographically, the number of diagnoses was highest in Northeastern and Southern states. The CDC looked at diagnosis data from 37 states, and Pennsylvania was not included, as the National HIV Surveillance System relies on a form of confidential name-based reporting that Pennsylvania does not yet employ.
Demographic data continued to reveal that the majority of HIV diagnoses are among men who have sex with men, with approximately 55 percent of the diagnoses from 2008 found in MSM.
About 51 percent of diagnoses were among African Americans, and about 62 percent of those who tested positive reported that they had previously been tested for HIV. Whites comprised about 29 percent of diagnoses, and about 41 percent had undergone prior testing, while Latinos accounted for 17.4 percent of diagnoses, and 47.6 percent reported being tested before. The lowest testing rate — 37.6 percent — was among Asians, who comprised 1.1 percent of new diagnoses in 2008.
“Despite the higher percentage of persons who report ever having been tested, the disproportionately high rates of diagnoses among African Americans or Latinos suggest that adults from these subpopulations might benefit from more frequent testing to facilitate early diagnosis,” the report stated.
It is recommended that MSM receive annual testing, and the CDC estimated that up to 60 percent of this population follows this recommendation. However, the CDC previously found that 45 percent of those newly diagnosed in the MSM community said they’d taken an HIV test in the preceding 12 months.
“Taken together, these findings indicate that although progress has been made toward increasing testing rates among populations at risk, testing has not occurred at sufficient scale or repeated with enough frequency to identify all those with HIV,” the report concluded.
Testing was least common in the youngest and oldest participants in the study. About 34 percent of those 18-24 who tested positive in 2008 reporting having taken an HIV test in the past, a figure that was put at 35 percent for those 45-64. About 57 percent of adults 25-34 and 35-44 reported having been previously tested. Diagnoses were most prevalent in those over 35.
The study noted that early diagnosis “saves lives, reduces morbidity and mortality, prevents new infections and can reduce health-care expenditures,” and that the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, announced earlier this year, provides an opportunity for the refocusing of testing efforts on the federal, state and local levels.
This past year, the CDC allocated an increased amount of funding for a testing initiative targeting at-risk communities like MSM, and noted that collaboration is also needed from state and local government as well as the health-care sector, which can be key to pressing for HIV testing among those who’ve never been tested and regular testing for at-risk populations.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].