Factors associated with HIV testing among people who inject drugs: a meta-analysis

HIV testing is the first step to early identification, treatment and management of HIV infection among people involved in high-risk behaviors specifically drug injection. Achieving declines in morbidity and mortality associated with HIV and reducing onward HIV transmission are key to testing and treatment. Evaluating the frequency of HIV testing among people who inject drugs (PWID) provides information that helps to identify missed opportunities to improve the efficacy of testing. This meta-analysis aimed to determine the association between HIV testing and risk taking behaviors among PWID. Two independent researchers reviewed the databases of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane electronic databases, for manuscripts published between 2000 and 2017, to identify primary studies on the factors associated with HIV testing among PWID. After reviewing for duplication, the full texts of 16 articles were assessed for eligibility. We used fixed and random-effects meta-analysis models to estimate the pooled prevalence, pooled odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) from the data collected. From the four databases 15,965 studies were identified. After evaluations of the citations, article title and abstracts 16 studies were included in the analysis. Findings indicate a significant association between HIV testing and having ≥6 years education (OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.01-1.38), a history of imprisonment (OR = 1.92, 95% CI = 1.30-2.53), access to needle syringe programs (OR = 1.6, 95% CI = 1.00-2.21), and PWID attending a health professional or physician (OR = 1.46, 95% CI = 1.17-1.74). Appropriate strategies to increase awareness of primary care physicians on the importance of regular HIV testing will help with global targets for HIV elimination among PWID.