The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #46193

Dogan Eroglu, PhD¹, Daniel R. Newman, MA¹, and Jennifer Lauby, PhD². (1) Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention - SE, Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, NE, Mailstop E-46, Atlanta, GA 30333, 404-639-2096, dde7@cdc.gov, (2) Research and Evaluation, Philadelphia Health Management Corporation, 260 South Broad Street, 18th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19102

Background: We investigated the consumer appeal of HIV tests that combined different attributes regarding sample collection methods and time before results are available. The technology is developed for all of these tests. However, some are not commercially available in the US. Methods: We interviewed high-risk persons from 8 zip codes with the highest rates of AIDS in Philadelphia. 50 community sites were randomly selected. At these sites, persons 18 and older were randomly selected and screened based on drug-use and sexual risk behavior. All participants were given descriptions of six HIV tests. Any given test used saliva, or blood drawn from a vein, or blood from a finger-stick as specimen and gave results either in 10 days or 30 minutes. A 10-point scale was used to elicit preferences for all tests from all participants. Tests were presented in six different orders to control for order-effects. Results: 1643 were interviewed, 338 (21%) had never been tested for HIV. An ANOVA test showed significant differences in preference for different tests (alpha<05). Preferences ranged from the highest for a rapid, saliva HIV test (7.82/10); to rapid, finger-prick (7.42); rapid, blood-draw (7.06); 10-day, saliva (6.16); 10-day, finger-prick (5.90); and lowest for the 10-day, blood-draw test. The pattern of ranking was similar when those who had tested before were compared to those who had never tested. Conclusions: The most preferred test is not licensed for commercial use in the US: rapid saliva. The most commonly available HIV test in the US yielded the lowest score.

Learning Objectives:

• To understand factors that act as barriers to HIV testing, as well as factors that facilitate testing.
• To understand which HIV tests are preferred by persons at risk.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.