title: Incorporation of Estimated Community Viral Load Before HIV Diagnosis for Enhancing Epidemiologic Investigations: A Comparison Between Men Who Have Sex With Men and Heterosexual Men in Hong Kong.
abstract: Currently, no studies have specifically incorporated population-level viral load measures for analyzing temporal trends of HIV infection in the Asia Pacific. With the use of longitudinal data from 950 HIV-infected heterosexual male and 1331 men who have sex with men managed at a major HIV clinic in Hong Kong between 1985 and 2012, viral load changes at population levels were compared. We back-calculated seroconversion year of each diagnosed patient and estimated the population-level viral load under the framework recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Full community viral load, a newly designed measure incorporating diagnosed and undiagnosed HIV-infected patients, was 3 to 8 times higher than community viral load derived from diagnosed patients only. The growth curve of full community viral load was 5 years ahead of other viral load measures, the shape of which lent support to the phenomenon of local transmission of men who have sex with men but not among heterosexual male in the predominantly Chinese HIV community in Hong Kong.
authors.affiliation: The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ngai Sze
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Department of Health, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ka Hing
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Department of Health, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Philip K H
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China sslee@cuhk.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Shui Shan
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D020010:Heterosexuality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006723:Hong Kong / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D019562:Viral Load
keywords: communicable diseases; epidemiology; men’s health; population health; population studies