Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Jul;107(7):1157-1163.
doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2017.303787. Epub 2017 May 18.

Racial/Ethnic Disparities at the End of an HIV Epidemic: Persons Who Inject Drugs in New York City, 2011-2015

Don C Des Jarlais  1 , Kamyar Arasteh  1 , Courtney McKnight  1 , Jonathan Feelemyer  1 , Susan Tross  1 , David Perlman  1 , Samuel Friedman  1 , Aimee Campbell  1
Affiliations

Racial/Ethnic Disparities at the End of an HIV Epidemic: Persons Who Inject Drugs in New York City, 2011-2015

Don C Des Jarlais et al. Am J Public Health. 2017 Jul.

Abstract

Objectives: To examine whether racial/ethnic disparities persist at the "end of the HIV epidemic" (prevalence of untreated HIV infection < 5%; HIV incidence < 0.5 per 100 person-years) among persons who inject drugs (PWID) in New York City.

Methods: We recruited 2404 PWID entering New York City substance use treatment in 2001 to 2005 and 2011 to 2015. We conducted a structured interview, and testing for HIV and herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2; a biomarker for high sexual risk). We estimated incidence by using newly diagnosed cases of HIV. Disparity analyses compared HIV, untreated HIV, HIV-HSV-2 coinfection, HIV monoinfection, and estimated HIV incidence among Whites, African Americans, and Latinos.

Results: By 2011 to 2015, Whites, African Americans, and Latino/as met both criteria of our operational "end-of-the-epidemic" definition. All comparisons that included HIV-HSV-2-coinfected persons had statistically significant higher rates of HIV among racial/ethnic minorities. No comparisons limited to HIV monoinfected persons were significant.

Conclusions: "End-of-the-epidemic" criteria were met among White, African American, and Latino/a PWID in New York City, but elimination of disparities may require a greater focus on PWID with high sexual risk.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Rockville, MD: National Institutes of Health; 2012. HHS action plan to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities.
    1. Washington, DC: US Census; 2015. United States Census of Population and Housing 2015: census tract statistics.
    1. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2012. HIV/AIDS surveillance report.
    1. Lansky A, Finlayson T, Johnson C et al. Estimating the number of persons who inject drugs in the United States by meta-analysis to calculate national rates of HIV and hepatitis C virus infections. PLoS One. 2014;9(5):e97596. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hall HI, Song R, Rhodes P et al. Estimation of HIV incidence in the United States. JAMA. 2008;300(5):520–529. - PMC - PubMed