High Rate of HIV Among Trauma Patients Participating in Routine Emergency Department Screening

Limited published data suggest rates of HIV may be high among trauma patients. This study compares rates of HIV screening and diagnosis among trauma and medical patients at a Level 1 trauma center emergency department (ED) with a universal HIV screening program. This is a retrospective cross-sectional study of all ED encounters from May 1, 2018, through May 1, 2021. Duplicate encounters, encounters with repeat testing within one year, and patients younger than 18 or older than 65 were excluded. Chi-squared analysis was used to compare demographics, rates of HIV testing, new and known HIV infections, and linkage to care between trauma and medical patients. After exclusion criteria were applied, 147,430 encounters from 91,468 unique patients were analyzed. Trauma comprised 7,497 (5.4%) encounters. Trauma patients were less likely to be screened for HIV than medical patients (18.1% vs 25.6%; OR 0.64; 95%CI, 0.61–0.68, p < .01). Trauma patients had higher rates of HIV (2.2% vs 1.3%; OR 1.78; 95% CI, 1.22–2.58, p < .01). Both trauma and medical patients would benefit from strategies to increase screening. Including trauma patients in routine ED HIV screening should be a priority to increase diagnosis rate and linkage to care in key populations.