HIV testing practices among black primary care physicians in the United States

BMC Public Health

Table 3 Key characteristics of “more routine” ^a versus “less routine” ^b testers for HIV in the past year ^c

More routine testers (n=173) were more likely to:	Less routine testers (n=157) were more likely to:
Be OB/GYN^d (47%)	Not be OB/GYN (only 12% are OB/GYN)
Report testing patients as routine practice (74%)	Report testing only patients who have risk factors (39% test routinely)
Be <40 years old (32%; mean age 46 yrs)	Be >40 years old (81%; mean age 49 yrs)
Be women^e (60%)	Be men (55%)
Have been tested for HIV themselves in past year (37%)	Not have been tested for HIV themselves in past year (only 16% were tested)
Perceive a higher local prevalence of HIV at the county (16%) and state (16%) levels	Perceive a lower local prevalence of HIV at the county (10%) and state (11%) levels
Have relatively more patients who are:	Have relatively fewer patients who are:
Black (62%)	Black (52%)
Low SES (34%)	Low SES (27%)
On Medicaid (30%)	On Medicaid (18%)
HIV positive (9%)	HIV positive (4%)

^aTested more than 25% of patients (>50% on average); ^bTested 0-7% of patients (<3% on average); levels of testing were calculated relative to the data distribution of testing rates in which approximately the top one-third of respondents fell into the “more routine” category and the bottom one-third fell into the “less routine” category. ^cPercent differences between more and less routine testers were significant (P<0.05); ^dOB/GYNs tested more frequently regardless of physician gender; ^eFemale physicians’ testing rates were likely inflated by over-representation of OB/GYNs; OB/GYN, Obstetrics/Gynecology; SES, socio-economic status.

ISSN: 1471-2458