title: Who and why? HIV-testing refusal during pregnancy: implication for pediatric HIV epidemic disparity.
abstract: To identify characteristics of pregnant women who refuse HIV testing and determine predictive factors and the reasons for refusal, we conducted face-to-face interviews of pregnant women at prenatal clinics of public and private hospitals. We found 8% (n=65) of 826 pregnant women interviewed refused HIV testing. In bivariate analysis, foreign-born pregnant women residing in Los Angeles County were twice more likely to refuse HIV testing than U.S.-born pregnant women (odds ratio [OR] = 1.97, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.11-3.49, p <.05). In a multivariate stepwise logistic regression model analysis, variables that were independent predictors of HIV testing refusal during pregnancy were being foreign-born (OR = 2.11, 95% CI 1.07-4.38), not receiving general information about HIV (OR = 7.48, 95% CI 1.86-30.01), and not receiving specific information about HIV and pregnancy (OR = 3.54, 95% CI 1.91-6.57). The most common reasons for testing refusal were being in a monogamous relationship for foreign-born women (41%) and already being tested for U.S.-born women (65%).
authors.affiliation: Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, Acute Communicable Disease Control Program, Pediatric HIV/AIDS Surveillance, California, USA. gaynalem@dhs.co.la.ca.us
authors.forename: Getahun
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Aynalem
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mendoza
authors.forename: Toni
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Frederick
authors.forename: Laurene
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mascola
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002669:Child Welfare; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004641:Emigration and Immigration; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D016017:Odds Ratio; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012307:Risk Factors; D016312:Treatment Refusal