Abstract:
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Self-report of HIV status has implications for the measurement and interpretation of indicators. Measurement issues relating to prior HIV status using self-report and surveillance data are described. New diagnoses were calculated using: 1) self-reported prior status; 2) prior report to surveillance; or 3) hierarchical approach: surveillance when available, if not, self-report. In 2014, 3,049,845 CDC-funded HIV testing events were conducted; 27,765 (0.9%) were positive. Of all testing events, 14,277(0.5%) were new positives using self-report, 10,256(0.3%) using surveillance, and 12,472 (0.4%) using the hierarchical method. Completeness of the surveillance variable was 83.8%, and over 97.6% for the self-report variables. However, there were contradictions. For example, of the 27,765 HIV-positive testing events, 6.3% of self-reported HIV-negatives were in surveillance; 5.1% reporting no previous test also were in surveillance. Because some grantees may not have access to surveillance, the hierarchical method may be the best approach because it allows use of self-report data when surveillance data are not available.
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