Prevalence of HIV infection among inpatients and outpatients in Department of Veterans Affairs health care systems: implications for screening programs for HIV.

OBJECTIVES

We sought to determine the prevalence of HIV in both inpatient and outpatient settings in 6 Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care sites.

METHODS

We collected demographic data and data on comorbid conditions and then conducted blinded, anonymous HIV testing. We conducted a multivariate analysis to determine predictors of HIV infection.

RESULTS

We tested 4500 outpatient blood specimens and 4205 inpatient blood specimens; 326 (3.7%) patients tested positive for HIV. Inpatient HIV prevalence ranged from 1.2% to 6.9%; outpatient HIV prevalence ranged from 0.9% to 8.9%. Having a history of hepatitis B or C infection, a sexually transmitted disease, or pneumonia also predicted HIV infection. The prevalence of previously undocumented HIV infection varied from 0.1% to 2.8% among outpatients and from 0.0% to 1.7% among inpatients.

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of undocumented HIV infection was sufficiently high for routine voluntary screening to be cost effective in each of the 6 sites we evaluated. Many VA health care systems should consider expanded routine voluntary HIV screening.