Oral health findings for HIV-infected adult medical patients from the HIV Cost and Services Utilization Study.
BACKGROUND
The HIV Cost and Services Utilization Study (HCSUS) was conducted by a consortium of private and government institutions centered at the RAND Corp. to provide national estimates of adult medical patients who are HIV-positive. This article presents descriptive oral health findings from that study.


METHODS
The National Opinion Research Center (NORC) conducted four interviews of a nationally representative sample of adults with HIV who made a medical visit for regular care in early 1996. This article uses data from the second interview conducted between December 1996 and July 1997. The authors constructed analytical weights for each respondent so the 2,466 interviewees represented a population of 219,700.


RESULTS
Most adult medical patients with HIV rated their oral health as at least "good," but 12 percent (representing a population of 25,300) rated it as "poor." Xerostomia was the most commonly reported symptom (37 percent) to arise in the time since the previous interview. Twenty-nine percent had a dental benefit under Medicaid and 23 percent had private insurance. Eighteen percent had not revealed their HIV status to the dentist they usually saw.


CONCLUSIONS
National data on adult medical patients with HIV provide a context for local or convenience sample studies and can help give direction to public health and public policy programs directed to the oral health needs of this population.


CONCLUSIONS
The attitudes and beliefs of adult HIV patients should be taken into account in the creation of community health education programs and continuing education for dentists. Medicaid programs should include adult dental benefits.
Freed
James R
JR
Division of Public Health and Community Dentistry, University of California, Los Angeles School of Dentistry, 90095-1668, USA. jrfreed@ucla.edu
Marcus
Marvin
M
Freed
Benjamin A
BA
Der-Martirosian
Claudia
C
Maida
Carl A
CA
Younai
Fariba S
FS
Yamamoto
John M
JM
Coulter
Ian D
ID
Shapiro
Martin F
MF
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001294:Attitude to Health; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003729:Dental Care / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008484:Medicaid / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D009059:Mouth Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D009909:Oral Health; D010510:Periodontal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D011788:Quality of Life; D012737:Sex Factors; D014076:Tooth Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000453:epidemiology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014987:Xerostomia / Q000453:epidemiology