Changes in Racial and Ethnic Disparities of HIV Diagnoses Among Adolescents and Young Adults Aged 13-24 Years, 2015-2019.

PURPOSE

We examined changes in racial/ethnic disparities in HIV diagnoses among adolescents and young adults aged 13-24 years from 2015 through 2019.

METHODS

We used national surveillance data for 2015-2019 from AtlasPlus to calculate 12 absolute and relative disparity measures for 7 racial/ethnic groups to understand HIV diagnosis trends over time. We calculated four absolute measures (Black-to-White rate difference, Hispanic-to-White rate difference, Absolute Index of Disparity [ID], population-weighted Absolute ID) and eight relative measures (Black-to-White rate ratio, Hispanic-to-White rate ratio, ID, population-weighted ID, population attributable proportion, Gini coefficient, Theil index, and mean log deviation).

RESULTS

HIV diagnosis rates decreased by 15.9% across all racial/ethnic groups combined. All the absolute disparity measures we examined indicated substantial reductions (13.5%-18.5%) in absolute disparities. Most of the relative disparity measures (eight of eight population-unadjusted measures and five of eight population-adjusted measures) declined as well, but the change was relatively modest and ranged from a 3.3% decrease to a 2.1% increase across the measures.

DISCUSSION

Despite progress, racial/ethnic disparities in HIV diagnoses among adolescents and young adults remain. Programs and services that are culturally relevant and tailored for this population may assist with continued progress toward reducing racial/ethnic disparities.