Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brighton, UK.
Public Health England, London, UK.
BMC Public Health. 2018 Oct 26;18(1):1204. doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-6118-x.
Despite a decline in the number of new HIV infections in the UK overall, the number and proportion of new HIV diagnoses in people aged ≥50 years continues to increase. People aged ≥50 years are disproportionately affected by late diagnosis, which is associated with poorer health outcomes, increased treatment complexity and increased healthcare costs. Late HIV diagnosis also has significant public health implications in terms of onward HIV transmission. It is not fully understood what factors affect the decision of an older person to test for HIV. The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with testing for HIV in people aged ≥50 years who tested late for HIV.
We interviewed 20 people aged ≥50 years diagnosed late with HIV to identify factors associated with HIV testing. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed.
Seven themes associated with HIV testing in people aged ≥50 years were identified: experience of early HIV/AIDS campaigns, HIV knowledge, presence of symptoms and symptom attribution, risk and risk perception, generational approaches to health and sexual health, stigma, and type of testing and testing venue.
Some factors associated with testing identified in this study were unique to older individuals. People aged ≥50 years often do not perceive themselves to be at risk of HIV. Further, stigma and a lack of knowledge of how to access HIV testing suggest a need for health promotion and suggest current sexual health services may need to adapt to better meet their needs.
尽管英国新感染艾滋病毒的人数总体上有所下降，但≥50 岁人群中新诊断出的艾滋病毒病例数量和比例仍在继续增加。≥50 岁人群不成比例地受到晚期诊断的影响，这与较差的健康结果、增加的治疗复杂性和增加的医疗保健成本有关。晚期艾滋病毒诊断也会对艾滋病毒的进一步传播产生重大的公共卫生影响。尚不完全清楚哪些因素会影响老年人进行艾滋病毒检测的决定。本研究的目的是确定与≥50 岁且晚期 HIV 检测者进行 HIV 检测相关的因素。
我们采访了 20 名≥50 岁被诊断为晚期 HIV 感染的人，以确定与 HIV 检测相关的因素。访谈进行了录音，逐字转录，并进行了主题分析。
确定了与≥50 岁人群进行 HIV 检测相关的七个主题：早期 HIV/AIDS 宣传活动的体验、HIV 知识、症状的出现和症状归因、风险和风险认知、代际健康方法和性健康、污名化以及检测类型和检测场所。
本研究中确定的一些与检测相关的因素是≥50 岁人群所特有的。≥50 岁的人通常不认为自己有感染艾滋病毒的风险。此外，污名和对如何获得 HIV 检测的知识缺乏，表明需要促进健康，并表明当前的性健康服务可能需要进行调整，以更好地满足他们的需求。
