Telephone Notification of HIV Test Results: Impact in King County, Washington

The researchers undertook the current study to learn whether receiving HIV test results over the telephone was associated with a change in the number of people who learned their results.

Study data were collected from individuals tested for HIV between 1995 and 2002 at selected public health clinics in King County, Wash. The rates of receiving HIV test results were calculated for periods before and after telephone results were offered, for persons who were offered and accepted, offered but declined, and not offered telephone results.

For persons testing HIV-positive, overall rates of receiving results before and after telephone results were offered increased from 85 percent to 94 percent (P=0.07). After controlling for confounders, people in the group offered and accepting telephone results were 2.5 times more likely (95 percent CI, 1.7-3.6) to get HIV test results compared to persons in the group not offered telephone results.

The researchers concluded that notifying persons of the HIV test results over the telephone may increase the numbers of people receiving results.

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