title: Late diagnosis of HIV infection: trends, prevalence, and characteristics of persons whose HIV diagnosis occurred within 12 months of developing AIDS.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Persons diagnosed late in the course of HIV infection may be unknowingly transmitting infection and once diagnosed may have worse outcomes and greater medical expenses.
  
  
  METHODS
  Persons diagnosed with AIDS in San Francisco between 2001 and 2005 were included. Late testers were persons diagnosed with HIV 12 months or less before their AIDS diagnosis. Prevalence trends, demographic and risk correlates, and predictors of late testing were measured.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 2139 persons included, 830 (38.8%) were late testers. The prevalence of late testing was stable between 2001 and 2005. Late testing was more likely among persons <30 years old (Odds ratio [OR]: 1.99, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.4, 2.8), heterosexuals (OR: 1.88, 95% CI: 1.1, 3.1), persons without a reported risk (OR: 2.88, 95% CI: 1.7, 5.0), persons with private insurance (OR: 1.82, 95% CI: 1.4, 2.4), no insurance (OR: 1.83, 95% CI: 1.4, 2.4), born outside of the United States (OR: 1.64, 95% CI: 1.2, 2.2), and whose initial AIDS diagnosis was an opportunistic infection (OR: 2.24, 95% CI: 1.8, 2.8).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A large proportion of persons with AIDS have tested late in the course of HIV infection and this proportion has not declined in recent years. Routine testing in medical settings, and use of rapid oral-fluid testing in traditional and nontraditional settings may increase early HIV diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: San Francisco Department of Public Health, 25 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102, USA. sandy.schwarcz@sfdph.org
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schwarcz
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: James W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Dilley
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Loeb
authors.forename: Kimberly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Boyd
mesh_terms: D015492:AIDS Serodiagnosis / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors