Predicting partner HIV testing and counseling following a partner notification intervention

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Infectious Disease Control

Background:

• Provider-assisted partner notification enhances HIV testing and counseling for sexual partners.
• These methods are effective but require significant resources.
• Identifying individuals unlikely to seek testing independently is crucial for efficient resource allocation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze sexual partners in an HIV clinical trial.
• To identify characteristics of partners unlikely to seek HIV testing on their own.
• To develop a risk score for targeted partner notification strategies.

Main Methods:

• Unconditional logistic regression analysis of partnership characteristics.
• Development of a risk score based on model coefficients.
• Evaluation of the risk score's sensitivity and specificity.

Main Results:

• Key predictors for not seeking testing included male partner sex, relationship duration of 6-24 months, and index education above primary.
• A risk score of ≥ 2 demonstrated 68% sensitivity and 78% specificity.
• The risk score effectively identified partners disinclined to seek testing independently.

Conclusions:

• A targeted risk score can optimize resource allocation for HIV partner notification.
• This approach increases testing yield compared to patient-referral methods.
• Efficiently locating at-risk partners in the community is achievable with this scoring system.