Trends in voluntary HIV testing in general practices in France between 1987 and 2002

To measure the level of voluntary HIV testing and to assess its changes in the French general population according to the evolution of HIV testing policies.

When general practitioners belonging to the Sentinelles network (SGP) offer HIV testing to their patients, they send the network an anonymous description of the patient and a report of the test results.

The number of HIV tests peaked in 1993 at 1760 per 100,000 inhabitants. Since 1995 the rate has fallen slightly, from 1474 to 810 per 100,000 in 2002. Between 1987 and 2002 there was a significant fall in the proportion of persons with a history of STD (31.4-5.1%, p = 0.0001), clinical signs of HIV infection (9.1-4.5%, p = 0.0002) and a history of prior testing (19.3-13.6%, p = 0.0005).

Our results show that demand for HIV testing among the French general practice patient population has fallen since 1995, along with the frequency with which GPs offer HIV testing.