Family practitioners screening for HIV infection

We assessed how family physicians screened for HIV infection in Paris, in 2013 and whether their practice had changed after publication of the HAS (French National Authority for Health) recommendation for systematic screening.

Family practitioners (FPs) in Paris answered a questionnaire by e-mail or regular mail from January to April 2013. The statistical analysis was performed with the Chi(2) test.

Four hundred and seven FPs answered (77.8% response rate). FPs did not always identify risk cases: 78% in case of sexually transmitted infection, but 32% for partner change, 39% for patients from a highly HIV endemic country, and 21% for sexually active teenagers or adults. Practices differed according to districts. FPs in the 1st and in the Northeastern Paris districts detected risk cases for HIV more often than their colleagues, and they used screening more often, with, consequently, more frequently positive results. The screening strategies also differed according to the FPs' demographic characteristics and their type of practice: young (P = 0.0002) female (P = 0.02) FPs working in "sector 1 (patients fully reimbursed)" (P = 8.10(-5)) prescribed more HIV blood tests. Surprisingly, only 45% of FPs was aware of the recent recommendation for systematic screening of HIV.

The Paris FP screening practices differ according to demographic characteristics, place, and type of practice. Screening practices have not changed since the publication of the new screening strategy.