Kim Yeonju, Park Eonjoo, Jung Yoonhee, Kim Koun, Kim Taeyoung, Kim Hwa Su
Veterans Medical Research Institute, Veterans Health Service Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Division of Infectious Disease Response, Capital Regional Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Osong Public Health Res Perspect. 2024 Aug;15(4):340-352. doi: 10.24171/j.phrp.2024.0123. Epub 2024 Aug 1.
Public health workers have been at the forefront of treating patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and managing the pandemic. The redeployment of this workforce has limited or interrupted other public health services, including testing for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This study aims to examine the impact of COVID-19 on HIV testing and diagnosis in the Republic of Korea from 2016 to 2021, comparing data before and after the onset of COVID-19.
Annual HIV testing data were collected from each institution through direct communication or from open-source databases. The annual number of new HIV cases was obtained from the official report of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. Data on healthcare visits for HIV diagnosis or treatment were extracted from the open-source database of the National Insurance Health Service of Korea. Interrupted time series regression was conducted, stratified by institution type.
In 2020, HIV tests, diagnoses, and visits decreased. Notably, public health centers experienced a substantial reduction in 2020-2021 compared to previous years. The annual percentage change in HIV tests was -53.0%, while for HIV diagnoses, it was -31.6%. The decrease in visits for HIV was also most pronounced for public facilities: -33.3% in 2020 and -45.6% in 2021 relative to 2019.
The numbers of tests, diagnoses, and healthcare visits for HIV at public health centers in the Republic of Korea substantially decreased in 2020 and 2021. The impacts of these changes on the early diagnosis and treatment of HIV necessitate further monitoring.
公共卫生工作者一直处于治疗2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）患者和管理疫情的前沿。这一劳动力的重新调配限制或中断了包括人类免疫缺陷病毒（HIV）检测在内的其他公共卫生服务。本研究旨在探讨COVID-19对2016年至2021年韩国HIV检测和诊断的影响，比较COVID-19爆发前后的数据。
通过直接沟通从各机构收集年度HIV检测数据，或从开源数据库获取。新增HIV病例的年度数量来自韩国疾病控制与预防机构的官方报告。从韩国国民健康保险服务的开源数据库中提取HIV诊断或治疗的医疗就诊数据。按机构类型分层进行中断时间序列回归分析。
2020年，HIV检测、诊断和就诊次数减少。值得注意的是，与前几年相比，2020 - 2021年公共卫生中心的相关数据大幅下降。HIV检测的年度百分比变化为-53.0%，而HIV诊断的年度百分比变化为-31.6%。公共设施的HIV就诊次数减少也最为明显：相对于2019年，2020年为-33.3%，2021年为-45.6%。
2020年和2021年，韩国公共卫生中心的HIV检测、诊断和医疗就诊次数大幅下降。这些变化对HIV早期诊断和治疗的影响需要进一步监测。
