Racial and Ethnic Disparities in HIV Diagnoses for Women in the United States

Of the estimated 361,000 persons in the United States living with HIV (not AIDS), approximately 29 percent are women.

The investigators in the current report used data on all HIV cases diagnosed 1999-2004 for adult and adolescent women at least age 13 and reported to CDC from 33 states with confidential name-based reporting systems. HIV diagnoses and rates per 100,000 women (95 percent confidence intervals) were analyzed according to age group, race and/or ethnicity, transmission category, year of diagnosis, and geographic region.

While the annual estimated rate of HIV diagnosis for black women decreased significantly from 82.7 per 100,000 in 2001 to 67.0 per 100,000 in 2004, it remained 21 times that of white women, the authors reported. Rates also decreased significantly for women in all age groups except those age 50 and older. The Mid-Atlantic and South-Atlantic regions had the highest rates in 2004, 23.2 per 100,000 and 20.8 per 100,000, respectively, though rates in these regions also significantly decreased.

"Rates of HIV diagnoses remain disproportionately high for Hispanic women and especially for black women," the investigators concluded.

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