Women's Opinions about Routine HIV Testing During Pregnancy: Implications for the Opt-Out Approach

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 331-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda S. Podhurst ◽  
Deborah S. Storm ◽  
Sarah Dolgonos
Author(s):  
Francisco Jover-Diaz ◽  
Jose-Maria Cuadrado ◽  
Mariano Matarranz ◽  
Elena Calabuig

Objective: Our objective was to determine attitudes and opinions of patients seen in our ID Unit on conducting HIV testing universally. Methods: The survey was conducted in patients between 18 and 65 years without known HIV infection. Requested information about the test was previous embodiment, reasons for rejection, opinion on the universal realization, benefits and/or drawbacks, possible test performance, and availability of results “test negative stigma.” Results: We surveyed 91 patients (54.9% males). Surprisingly, up to 18.7% of patients mistakenly believed that HIV testing is routinely performed without consent. A great majority (98.9%) felt that universal performance on the test would benefit mainly in early diagnosing and/or preventing transmission. Patients younger than 42 years were significantly more prone to doing the test as a routine procedure. Only 4 (4.4%) patients did not participate because they believed they were “not infected.” A vast majority (80.5%) of respondents would prefer to have results within the first 24 hours. In addition, 20.7% would have a problem with confidentiality if HIV serology testing was done. Conclusions: In summary, the vast majority (95.6%) of the surveyed patients had a fair opinion about universal HIV testing. Only 4 patients (4.4%) would not consent to HIV testing (because of low-risk perception). Availability of rapid HIV tests can facilitate fast result delivery, facilitating linkage to care. Considering favorable patients' opinion, recent opt-out screening recommendations, highest HIV prevalence in admitted patients, and cost-effectiveness, studies favor universal HIV testing.


2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 460-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne F. Costello ◽  
Anne Sliney ◽  
Cindy MacLeod ◽  
Michelle Carpentier ◽  
Rebecca Garofalo ◽  
...  

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Czarnogorski ◽  
J. Brown ◽  
V. Lee ◽  
J. Oben ◽  
I. Kuo ◽  
...  

Objective. To determine the prevalence of occult HIV infection in patients who decline routine HIV testing in an urban emergency department.Design, Setting, and Patients. Discarded blood samples were obtained from patients who had declined routine ED HIV testing. After insuring that the samples came from patients not known to be HIV positive, they were deidentified, and rapid HIV testing was preformed using 5 μL of whole blood.Main Outcome Measures. The prevalence of occult HIV infection in those who declined testing compared with prevalence in those who accepted testing.Results. 600 consecutive samples of patients who declined routine HIV screening were screened for HIV. Twelve (2%) were reactive. Over the same period of time, 4845 patients accepted routine HIV testing. Of these, 35 (0.7%) were reactive. The difference in the prevalence of HIV infection between those who declined and those who accepted testing was significant (). The relative risk of undetected HIV infection in the group that declined testing was 2.74 times higher (95% CI 1.44–5.18) compared with those accepted testing.Conclusion. The rate of occult HIV infection is nearly three-times higher in those who decline routine ED HIV testing compared with those who accept such testing. Interventions are urgently needed to decrease the opt-out rate in routine ED HIV testing settings.


2003 ◽  
Vol 7 (17) ◽  
Author(s):  
B Blommerde

Beginning in January 2004, screening tests for HIV are to be offered to all pregnant women in the Netherlands on an 'opt-out' basis to prevent transmission of HIV from mother to child.


2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-200
Author(s):  
Barbara Burmen ◽  
Joseph O Mogunde ◽  
Daniel PO Kwaro

Background: The delivery of public health policies may be in conflict with individualism. Objectives: To propose measures to ethically provide routine HIV testing services to persons visiting a funeral home. Research design: A document analysis of study documents and presentations made to an institutional review board. Participants and research context: Institutional review board members (both lay and professionals) and Study investigators attending an `open session' where study investigators were invited to elaborate on some study procedures. Ethical considerations: Identities of all parties were anonymized. Findings: Opt-out approaches to HIV testing, grief counseling, relational ethics, and a modular consenting process were proposed to safeguard clients' autonomy. The golden-rule approach and protective empowering were suggested to protect clientele beneficence. Discussion and conclusion: It is possible to ethically provide universal HIV testing and counseling services among grieving populations in this setting; elsewhere, this should be contextualized.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S512-S512
Author(s):  
Jodian Pinkney ◽  
Divya Ahuja ◽  
Caroline Derrick ◽  
Martin Durkin

Abstract Background South Carolina (SC) remains one of the most heavily affected states for both HIV and HCV infections. Males account for the majority of cases. Implementation of universal opt-out testing has improved screening rates but not much has been published describing the characteristics of those who opt out of testing. This becomes important as 10-50% of patients have opted out in previous studies. Methods Between February and August 2019, we conducted a quality improvement (QI) project which implemented opt- out HIV-HCV testing at a single primary care resident clinic in SC with the primary aim of increasing screening rates for HIV-HCV by 50%. Secondary aims included describing the demographic characteristics of the opt-out population. Persons were considered eligible for testing if they were between the ages of 18-65 years for HIV and 18-74 years for HCV. This was prior to the USPSTF 2020 guidelines which recommend HCV screening for adults aged 18-79 years. A retrospective chart review was used to obtain screening rates, opt status and demographic data. Logistic regression and the firth model were used to determine linkages between categorical variables. We present 3-month data. Results 1253 patients were seen between May 1, 2019- July 31, 2019 (See Table 1). 985 (78%) were eligible for HIV testing. 482 (49%) were tested for HIV as a result of our QI project and all tests were negative. 212 (22%) of eligible patients opted out of HIV testing. Males were 1.59 times more likely to opt out (p=0.008). (see Table 2,3) Regarding HCV, 1136 (90.7%) were deemed eligible for testing. 503 (44%) were tested for HCV as a result of our QI project. 12 (2.4%) were HCV antibody positive with viremia. 11 (90%) of antibody positive with viremia cases were in the 1945-1965 birth cohort (see Table 4). 244 (21%) opted out of HCV testing. Males and persons without a genitourinary chief complaint were more likely to opt out (p=0.02). Table 1: Demographic characteristics of the population seen at the internal medicine resident clinic between May- July 2019 Table 2: Relationship between demographic variables and the odds of being tested for HIV or HCV within the last 12 months. Logistic Model. Table 3: Relationship between demographic variables and the odds of opting out of testing for HIV or HCV. Firth Model. Conclusion Although implementation of routine HIV-HCV opt-out testing led to increased screening rates for both HIV and HCV, roughly 1 in 5 eligible patients chose to opt out of testing. Males were more likely to opt out despite accounting for the majority of newly diagnosed HCV cases. Future studies investigating drivers for opting-out in the male population could improve testing and assist with early diagnosis. Table 4: Characteristics of patients newly diagnosed with HCV positive with viremia. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures


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