Sponsors

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB); Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (SAMHSA/CSAT); and Office of AIDS Research, National Institutes of Health (OAR/NIH).

Study Design

The HIV Research Network comprises 19 data collection sites. Each site is a provider of HIV care and treatment to a substantial number of patients with HIV infection. Primary data collection occurs through abstraction of information in the patients' medical records. Data, without any identifying information, are sent to the data coordinating center at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.

Data abstracted from records include number and length of inpatient admissions, number of outpatient visits to the HIVRN site, gender, age, race/ethnicity, HIV transmission risk group, insurance status, lowest CD4 count, and highest viral load. Data have been abstracted and analyzed covering 2000 and 2001.

Population Targeted

Data from the HIVRN are not nationally representative.

Years Collected

2000, 2001.

Schedule

Annual abstraction of medical records.

Geographic Estimates

Although the data collection sites are located in every region of the country, regional projections cannot be made from HIVRN data.

Contact Information

Agency homepage: http://www.ahrq.gov.

Data query page: http://www.ahrq.gov/data/HIVnet.htm

References

The HIV Research Network. Hospital and Outpatient Health Services Utilization among HIV-Infected Patients in Care in 1999. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 2002, 30: 21–26.