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Younger gay men have much lower risk of acquiring HIV than previous generations, but racial disparities persist
Roger Pebody, 2015-07-23 01:50:00
An innovative analysis of HIV trends in the Seattle area has found that gay men who were born in the early 1960s had the highest lifetime risk of acquiring HIV, but that this risk has declined dramatically in subsequent generations. While black gay men born in the 1970s and 1980s have a much lower risk of acquiring HIV than their forebears, racial disparities remain stark.
Presenting the results on Tuesday to the Eighth International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2015) in Vancouver, Galant au Chan of the University of Washington said that the results are probably not generalisable across the United States.
Seattle has high-quality services, good access to effective HIV treatment and a well-informed population. Dr Chan is planning to conduct similar analyses of the epidemic in other parts of the country to compare results.
Nationally, the incidence of new HIV infections in young gay men – especially young black gay men – is unacceptably high. New diagnoses are rising in this age group.
The analysis used a life table approach to describe the cumulative risk of HIV infection in groups of men who have sex with men (MSM) born around the same time. The researchers looked at HIV diagnoses throughout the HIV epidemic in men who have sex with men living in King County, the area which includes the city of Seattle. Undiagnosed infections were not included.
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