title: Public Health Benefit of Peer-Referral Strategies for Detecting Undiagnosed HIV Infection Among High-Risk Heterosexuals in New York City.
abstract: Identifying undiagnosed HIV infection is necessary for the elimination of HIV transmission in the United States. The present study evaluated the efficacy of 3 community-based approaches for uncovering undiagnosed HIV among heterosexuals at high-risk (HHR), who are mainly African American/Black and Hispanic. Heterosexuals comprise 24% of newly reported HIV infections in the United States, but experience complex multilevel barriers to HIV testing. We recruited African American/Black and Hispanic HHR in a discrete urban area with both elevated HIV prevalence and poverty rates. Approaches tested were (1) respondent-driven sampling (RDS) and confidential HIV testing in 2 sessions (n = 3116); (2) RDS and anonymous HIV testing in one session (n = 498); and (3) venue-based sampling (VBS) and HIV testing in a single session (n = 403). The main outcome was newly diagnosed HIV infection. RDS with anonymous testing and one session reached HHR with less HIV testing experience and more risk factors than the other approaches. Furthermore, RDS with anonymous (4.0%) and confidential (1.0%) testing yielded significantly higher rates of newly diagnosed HIV than VBS (0.3%). Thus peer-referral approaches were more efficacious than VBS for uncovering HHR with undiagnosed HIV, particularly a single-session/anonymous strategy, and have a vital role to play in efforts to eliminate HIV transmission.
authors.affiliation: *Center for Drug Use and HIV Research, Rory Meyers College of Nursing, New York University, New York, NY;†Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY; and‡Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA.
authors.forename: Marya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gwadz
authors.forename: Charles M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Cleland
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Perlman
authors.forename: Holly
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hagan
authors.forename: Samuel M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Jenness
authors.forename: Noelle R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Leonard
authors.forename: Amanda S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Ritchie
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kutnick
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D044383:Black People; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D020010:Heterosexuality; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009519:New York City; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012309:Risk-Taking; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult; D001741:Black or African American