New research adds support for at-risk testing in ED
Strategy reaches high-risk heterosexuals
A study conducted at the University Hospitals of Cleveland in Ohio adds to the growing body of research that suggests it’s a good strategy to offer HIV testing to patients admitted to hospital emergency departments. "People that are in HIV high-risk groups . . . use traditional HIV testing sites, but offering testing to emergency room patients reaches a different group that’s at risk, such as African-American women," says Michelle Kucia, Ryan White grants administrator for the University Hospitals of Cleveland.
During a five-month period, investigators compared 123 people tested for HIV at a local clinic with 105 people who were tested in the emergency department after being admitted for common illnesses, such as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), minor trauma, upper respiratory infection, or pelvic inflammatory disease, according to a study presented at the Infectious Diseases Society of America meeting held in October in San Francisco.
Reaching different groups
They found that 97 (92%) of those tested in the emergency department were African-American and eight were Caucasian. Also, 63 (60%) were female. By comparison, of the population tested at the local HIV clinic, 79 (64%) were Caucasian, 25 (21%) were African-American, and the rest were mixed-race, Asian American, and Hispanic. Of those tested at the clinic, 45 (36%) were female.
Also, the people tested in the emergency department were more likely to be heterosexual, have a history of STD, and have prior intravenous drug use compared with those tested at the clinic. Men who have sex with men (MSM) were more likely to be tested at the HIV clinic, as were those who had sex with a known HIV-infected partner. The study found no significant difference in the number of positives found in the emergency room vs. the HIV clinic, Kucia says.
"By offering testing in the ER, we got people to think about HIV infection," Kucia says. "Especially at a time when women are coming to the rapid care center for something STD-related or prenatal, this gets them to think about risk and transmission."
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