title: Mandatory premarital testing for human immunodeficiency virus. The Illinois experience.
abstract: During the first 6 months of legislatively mandated premarital testing for human immunodeficiency virus in Illinois, 8 of 70,846 applicants for marriage licenses were found to be seropositive, yielding a seroprevalence of 0.011%. The total cost of the testing program for 6 months is estimated at $2.5 million or $312,000 per seropositive individual identified. Half of the reported seropositive individuals reported a history of risk behavior. During the same period, the number of marriage licenses issued in Illinois decreased by 22.5%, while the number of licenses issued to Illinois residents in surrounding states increased significantly. We conclude that mandatory premarital testing is not a cost-effective method for the control of human immunodeficiency virus infection.
authors.affiliation: Illinois Department of Public Health, Chicago 60601.
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Turnock
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Kelly
mesh_terms: D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D005260:Female; D033161:Government Regulation; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007087:Illinois; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000379:methods; D011291:Premarital Examinations / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods; D040841:Resource Allocation; D012307:Risk Factors