Hiv Infection Risk Higher In Patients Receiving Mental Health Care

Of that group, several new HIV cases were detected, suggesting that not all patients are getting tested in mental health care settings, despite recommendations to do so from the CDC and the Institute of Medicine. The study is one of the largest studies to date to estimate HIV prevalence and risk factors among persons receiving treatment in mental health settings and included researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as the University of Maryland and Columbia University Medical Center. “These findings paint a recent picture of HIV infection rates in the community, and reinforce how important it is to identify patients and get them into appropriate infectious disease care in a timely manner while being treated for mental illness,” said lead author Michael B. Blank, PhD, associate professor in Psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine. “With such a high-risk group, it”s imperative to be routinely testing patients to improve care and reduce transmissions to others. Historically, though, HIV testing is often not implemented in mental health care.” For the study, researchers provided rapid HIV testing to 1,061 individuals (621 men and 436 women) seeking treatment for symptoms, including depression, psychosis, and substance abuse, at university-based inpatient psychiatry units, intensive case-management programs, and community mental health centers from January 2009 to August 2011. You will find the original cont...
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