Making HIV Screening More Specific

The CDC recommends that emergency departments (EDs) screen everyone for HIV, but debate continues about whether screening is part of an ED's mission (JW AIDS Clin Care Jul 26 2010). Hypothesizing that targeted screening might be more effective than universal screening, researchers compared the two approaches during two separate 4-month periods at a single ED in Denver.

During the targeted-screening phase, patients with a score ≥30 on the previously validated Denver HIV Risk Score were considered high risk and were offered testing. Of 28,506 patients who presented during this phase, 17,726 completed the Risk Score, 1718 were considered high risk, and 1584 were offered testing. Of the 551 patients tested, 7 (1.3%) had positive results. Of 29,5…