Immigration status and HIV late testing among Latinos in New Haven, Connecticut

Introduction Few studies have examined the impact of immigration status on HIV testing. This study evaluates the association between late testing and documentation and foreign born status among Latinos. The hypothesis was that undocumented immigrants (UI) were more likely to be late–testers than documented immigrants (DI) and US born Latinos. Methods This study was a cross sectional review of the medical records of 122 HIV positive Latinos receiving care at two HIV/AIDS clinics in New Haven, CT. Results The sample consisted of 14 undocumented immigrants, 14 documented immigrants and 94 US born Latinos. AIDS as the disease category at diagnosis was more prevalent among DIs (46.2%) than among UIs (38.5%). UIs were more often late testers (58.3%). Bivariate analysis showed that UIs were 3.6 (CI = 1.0, 12.2) times more likely than DIs to be late testers, immigrants were 3.4 (CI = 1.3, 8.6) times more likely to be late testers than US born Latinos, and UIs 4.4 (CI = 1.2, 15.3) times more likely to be late testers than US born Latinos. Multivariate modeling showed that immigrants were 3.6 (CI = 1.2, 10.4) times more likely to be late testers than US born Latinos. UIs were 5.6 (CI = 1.1, 27.9) times more likely to be late testers. Discussion The results of this study show that undocumented Latino immigrants are more likely to be late testers than documented Latino immigrants and than US born Latinos. This group should receive targeted prevention education and improved linkages to care.