Screening for HIV

Release Date: July 2005

Summary of Recommendation / Supporting Documents

Summary of Recommendations

• The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) strongly recommends that clinicians screen for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) all adolescents and adults at increased risk for HIV infection (go to Clinical Considerations for discussion of risk factors).
  Grade: A Recommendation.
• The USPSTF makes no recommendation for or against routinely screening for HIV adolescents and adults who are not at increased risk for HIV infection (go to Clinical Considerations for discussion of risk factors).
  Grade: C Recommendation.
  
  

  Amendment April 2007 In September 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published revised guidelines recommending that all individuals between 13 and 64 yeas of age be screened for HIV regardless of recognized risk factors (1). In making this recommendation, the CDC considered a number of factors, including research published subsequent to the completion of the systematic evidence report on which the 2005 HIV screening recommendations of the USPSTF are based. In November 2006, the USPSTF assessed this new research using established methods for evaluating the quality and strength of the evidence (2). Based on this review (3), the USPSTF confirmed its "C" recommendation for screening non-pregnant adolescents and adults who are not at increased risk for HIV infection. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Revised recommendations for HIV testing of adults, adolescents, and pregnant women in health-care settings. MMWR 2006;55(RR-14):1-17 Harris RP, Helfand M, Woolf SH, et al. Current methods of the third U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Am J Prev Med 2001;20(3S):21-35 Chou R, Huffman L. Screening for human immunodeficiency virus: focused update of 2005 systematic evidence review. April 2007.

   

• The USPSTF recommends that clinicians screen all pregnant women for HIV.
  Grade: A Recommendation.

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Supporting Documents

Screening for HIV, July 2005
Recommendation Statement (PDF File, 153 KB; PDF Help)
Screening for HIV in Adolescents and Adults: Review of the Evidence (PDF File, 876 KB; PDF Help)
Screening for HIV in Adolescents and Adults: Evidence Synthesis (PDF File Download, 1.6 MB; PDF Help)
       Focused Update, April 2007 (PDF File, 190 KB; PDF Help)
Prenatal Screening for HIV: Review of the Evidence (PDF File, 763 KB; PDF Help)
Screening for HIV in Pregnant Women: Evidence Synthesis (PDF File Download)

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Current as of April 2007

Internet Citation:

Screening for HIV, Topic Page. April 2007. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstf/uspshivi.htm