Abstract
HIV infections are prevalent among adolescents and young adults, of whom 44% remain unaware of their diagnosis. HIV screening presents numerous challenges including stigma, fear, and concerns about confidentiality, which may influence young people’s acceptance of HIV screening and linkage to care differently from individuals in other age groups. It is imperative to understand which care delivery models are most effective in facilitating these services for youth. This systematic review analyzes the rates of HIV test acceptance and linkage to care by care delivery model for adolescents and young adults. Studies were classified into emergency department (ED), primary care/inpatient setting, community-based program, or sexually transmitted infection clinic models of care. From 6395 studies initially identified, 59 met criteria for inclusion in the final analyses. Rate of test acceptance and linkage to care were stratified by model of care delivery, gender, race, age ranges (13–17, 18–24 years) as well as site (North America vs rest of the world). A significant difference in acceptance of HIV testing was found between care models, with high rates of test acceptance in the ED setting in North America and primary care/hospital setting in the rest of the world. Similarly, linkage to care differed by model of care, with EDs having high rates of linkages to HIV care in North America. Future studies are needed to test mechanisms for optimizing outcomes for each care delivery model in addressing the unique challenges faced by adolescents and young adults.
Footnotes
Contributors Study design and concept: JSC, PTL, CN. Sabrina Khan contributed to screening of a random title and abstract sample to ensure precision of screening, as well as full-text review of studies screened by PTL. PTL, CN, and VP contributed to data collection, data analysis, generating of tables and figures, and manuscript writing. PTL wrote the main manuscript text. All authors (PTL, JSC, CN, VP) contributed to the final revision of the manuscript. PTL is guarantor for the published manuscript's contents.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data availability statement
No data are available. Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created for this study.
Log in using your username and password
Log in through your institution
PURCHASE SHORT TERM ACCESS
Pay Per Article - You may access this article (from the computer you are currently using) for 1 day for US$37.00
Regain Access - You can regain access to a recent Pay per Article purchase if your access period has not yet expired.
