HIV Testing in Urban Transgender Individuals: A Descriptive Study

Abstract

HIV testing is considered the initial component of HIV eradication strategies. This study aimed to describe HIV testing in urban, transgender individuals in western New York. The study uses HIV testing intake data from a sample of self-identified transgender males and females volunteering for an HIV test at a community-based healthcare organization. Transgender individuals with some characteristics were found to have more HIV tests including female gender, black, HIV status (positive), a history of incarceration, sex worker, housing situation, and self-referral. The findings can be used to tailor future interventions to encourage HIV testing in transgender populations.

Transgender people living with HIV: characteristics and comparison to homosexual and heterosexual cisgender patients in two Italian teaching hospitals

“…The reason behind these findings may be that TGPs know that they are at a very high risk of acquiring HIV infection and this has been reported to induce many to test frequently and therein could explain why they receive a diagnosis at an early age and stage. 7,8 Previous studies have asserted that TGPs tend to underestimate their level of risk for HIV and do not believe they were at risk for having or acquiring HIV. 9 However, in our study, only 66.6% of TGPs achieved viral suppression after one year of cART, a result in agreement with previous studies.…”