TY - JOUR
T1 - Burden of HIV among young transgender women
T2 - factors associated with HIV infection and HIV treatment engagement
AU - Jin, Harry
AU - Restar, Arjee
AU - Biello, Katie
AU - Kuhns, Lisa M
AU - Reisner, Sari
AU - Garofalo, Robert
AU - Mimiaga, Matthew J.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by National Institute of Mental Health: [Grant Number R01MH094323].
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2019/1/2
Y1 - 2019/1/2
N2 - Young transgender women (YTW) are disproportionately affected by HIV, however, little is known about the factors associated with HIV infection and treatment engagement. We examined correlates of HIV infection and the steps of the HIV treatment cascade, specifically, being aware of their HIV infection, linked to care, on ART, and adherent to ART. We analyzed the baseline data of Project LifeSkills, a randomized control trial of sexually active YTW recruited from Chicago, Illinois and Boston, Massachusetts. We conducted multivariable Poisson regressions to evaluate correlates of HIV infection and the steps of the HIV treatment cascade. Nearly a quarter (24.7%) of YTW were HIV-infected. Among HIV-infected YTW, 86.2% were aware of their HIV status, 72.3% were linked to care, 56.9% were on ART, and 46.2% were adherent to ART. Having avoided healthcare due to cost in the past 12 months and not having a primary care provider were associated with suboptimal engagement in HIV care. Our results suggest that improving linkage and retention in care by addressing financial barriers and improving access to primary care providers could significantly improve health outcomes of YTW as well as reduce forward transmission of HIV.
AB - Young transgender women (YTW) are disproportionately affected by HIV, however, little is known about the factors associated with HIV infection and treatment engagement. We examined correlates of HIV infection and the steps of the HIV treatment cascade, specifically, being aware of their HIV infection, linked to care, on ART, and adherent to ART. We analyzed the baseline data of Project LifeSkills, a randomized control trial of sexually active YTW recruited from Chicago, Illinois and Boston, Massachusetts. We conducted multivariable Poisson regressions to evaluate correlates of HIV infection and the steps of the HIV treatment cascade. Nearly a quarter (24.7%) of YTW were HIV-infected. Among HIV-infected YTW, 86.2% were aware of their HIV status, 72.3% were linked to care, 56.9% were on ART, and 46.2% were adherent to ART. Having avoided healthcare due to cost in the past 12 months and not having a primary care provider were associated with suboptimal engagement in HIV care. Our results suggest that improving linkage and retention in care by addressing financial barriers and improving access to primary care providers could significantly improve health outcomes of YTW as well as reduce forward transmission of HIV.
KW - HIV
KW - HIV treatment cascade
KW - access to care
KW - young transgender women
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U2 - 10.1080/09540121.2018.1539213
DO - 10.1080/09540121.2018.1539213
M3 - Article
C2 - 30380926
AN - SCOPUS:85056924642
SN - 0954-0121
VL - 31
SP - 125
EP - 130
JO - AIDS Care - Psychological and Socio-Medical Aspects of AIDS/HIV
JF - AIDS Care - Psychological and Socio-Medical Aspects of AIDS/HIV
IS - 1
ER -
