Resumen de Prevalence of HIV infection among young adults in the United States: results from the Add Health study.

Martina Morris, Mark S Handcock, William C. Miller, Carol A. Ford, John L Schmitz, Marcia M Hobbs, Myron S Cohen, Kathleen Mullan Harris, J Richard Udry

• Objectives: We estimated HIV prevalence rates among young adults in the United States.; Methods: We used survey data from the third wave of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a random sample of nearly 19000 young adults initiated in 1994-1995. Consenting respondents were screened for the presence of antibodies to HIV-1 in oral mucosal transudate specimens. We calculated prevalence rates, accounting for survey design, response rates, and test performance.; Results: Among the 13184 participants, the HIV prevalence rate was 1.0 per 1000 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.4, 1.7). Gender-specific prevalence rates were similar, but rates differed markedly between non-Hispanic Blacks (4.9 per 1000; 95% CI=1.8, 8.7) and members of other racial/ethnic groups (0.22 per 1000; 95% CI=0.00, 0.64).; Conclusions: Racial disparities in HIV in the United States are established early in the life span, and our data suggest that 15% to 30% of all cases of HIV occur among individuals younger than 25 years.;