Missed HIV diagnoses when screening only emergency department patients who have blood samples obtained for other clinical purposes.

OBJECTIVE: Emergency departments (EDs) are highly valued settings for HIV screening. Most large-volume ED HIV screening programs have attenuated operational barriers by screening only ED patients who already have a blood sample available for other clinical reasons. Our objective was to estimate the proportion of HIV positive patients who are missed when an ED excludes patients for whom HIV screening would be the only indication to obtain a blood sample. METHODS: This cross-sectional analysis used existing electronic records of patients seen between 2017 and 2019 by an urban, academic ED and its HIV screening program, which includes patients regardless of whether they receive other ED blood testing. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients tested by the screening program who were newly diagnosed with HIV (Sample 1) for whom HIV screening would be the only indication for venipuncture. We secondarily 1) estimate the proportion of ED patients who received venipuncture using a representative sample of consecutively approached participants which prospectively recorded whether patients had blood obtained or intravenous catheter placement during usual ED care (Sample 2) and 2) report patient characteristics including HIV risk factors for those with and without ED venipuncture for both groups. RESULTS: Of 41 persons newly diagnosed with HIV by the ED screening program (Sample 1), 13 (31.7%, 95%CI 18.6-48.2) did not undergo venipuncture for any reason other than their HIV test. The proportion of ED visits without a venipuncture (Sample 2) was 44.2% (95% CI 41.9-46.6). Patient characteristics were similar for both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Screening only those patients with a blood sample already available or easily obtainable due to usual ED care, misses many opportunities for earlier HIV diagnosis. Innovation in research, policy, and practice is needed to overcome still unaddressed barriers to ED HIV screening when HIV screening is the only indication for collection of a biological sample.

Estimated proportion of an urban academic emergency department patient population eligible for HIV preexposure prophylaxis.

OBJECTIVE: Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a highly effective but underutilized method of HIV prevention. Emergency departments (EDs) have access to at-risk populations meeting CDC eligibility criteria for PrEP. Characterizing this population could help motivate, develop, and implement ED interventions to promote PrEP uptake. METHODS: This cross-sectional study explored the proportion of patients from an urban, academic ED who met CDC 2017 PrEP eligibility criteria using three existing datasets that mimic patient selection strategies for HIV screening: 1) study of consecutively approached ED patients from 2008 to 2009 (analogous to non-targeted screening), 2) patients of the ED's HIV screening program in 2017 (analogous to risk-targeted screening), and 3) electronic health record (EHR) diagnostic codes in 2017 (analogous to EHR selected screening). The primary outcome was the proportion eligible for PrEP referral. Secondary outcomes included proportion by risk group: men who have sex with men (MSM), heterosexual men and women (HMW), and persons who inject drugs (PWID). RESULTS: The proportion eligible for PrEP was: 568/1970 (28.8%, 95% CI: 26.9-30.9) for consecutively approached patients, 552/3884 (14%, 95% CI: 13-15) for risk-targeted patients, and 605/66287 (0.9%, 95% CI: 0.8-1.0) for EHR diagnoses of all patients. For the two datasets with behavioral risk information, the proportion eligible was: MSM 1-2%, HMW 12-28%, and PWID 1-4%. CONCLUSIONS: A large subgroup of this ED population was eligible for PrEP referral. EDs are a compelling setting for development and implementation of HIV prevention interventions to assist in national efforts to expand PrEP.

HIV detection by an emergency department HIV screening program during a regional outbreak among people who inject drugs.

OBJECTIVE: Multiple HIV outbreaks among persons who inject drugs (PWID) have occurred in the US since 2015. Emergency departments (EDs), recognized as essential venues for HIV screening, may play a unique role in identifying undiagnosed HIV among PWID, who frequently present for complications of injection drug use (IDU). Our objective was to describe changes in HIV diagnoses among PWID detected by an ED HIV screening program and estimate the program's contribution to HIV diagnoses among PWID county-wide during the emergence of a regional HIV outbreak. METHODS: This was a retrospective study of electronically queried clinical records from an urban, safety-net ED's HIV screening program and publicly available HIV surveillance data for its surrounding county, Hamilton County, Ohio. Outcomes included the change in number of HIV diagnoses and the ED's contribution to case identification county-wide, overall and for PWID during 2014-2018. RESULTS: During 2014-2018, the annual number of HIV diagnoses made by the ED program increased from 20 to 42 overall, and from 1 to 18 for PWID. We estimated that the ED contributed 18% of HIV diagnoses in the county and 22% of diagnoses among PWID. CONCLUSIONS: The ED program contributed 1 in 5 new HIV diagnoses among PWID county-wide, further illustrating the importance of ED HIV screening programs in identifying undiagnosed HIV infections. In areas experiencing increasing IDU, HIV screening in EDs can provide an early indication of increasing HIV diagnoses among PWID and can substantially contribute to case-finding during an HIV outbreak.