摘要：We estimated prevalence and odds ratios for self-reported HIV testing among sexually experienced young adults using nationally representative data obtained from Wave III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). The prevalence of testing in the past year was 18.8%. Young adults who had private or no health insurance were less likely to report testing than were young adults who had public health insurance, particularly in the South. Respondents with functional income were less likely to report testing than were those without functional income, particularly in the South and Northeast. Variable HIV testing based on finances and insurance should be addressed. Half of all new HIV infections in the United States are among adolescents (aged 10–19 years) and young adults (aged 20–24 years), but approximately 50% of those infected have not been tested. 1 Detecting HIV infection early is critical to preventing transmission and limiting disease progression. HIV testing may lead to behaviors that reduce risk of infection. 2 – 7 Unfortunately, many people at risk of infection lack health insurance or a regular care provider to enable testing, 8 and socioeconomically disadvantaged groups are diagnosed later in their HIV disease. 9 , 10 Young adults are in economic transition from childhood and constitute 20% of the population without health insurance 11 ; therefore, they use fewer health services. 12 , 13 Links between financial resources and HIV testing among young adults are important to understand. Furthermore, the number of incident and cumulative AIDS cases is now greatest in the South, making it critical to understanding HIV testing in this region. 2 We hypothesized that sexually experienced young adults, i.e., those having ever had vaginal intercourse, with few resources or living in the South would report HIV testing less than comparison groups.
