Factors Related to HIV Testing Among Migrant Populations in Paris

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors associated with HIV testing among migrant populations in the Paris metropolitan area and their circumstances. This analysis is based on data collected among 3,023 adult participants of the SIRS cohort study, a socio-epidemiological, representative, population-based study in Paris's metropolitan area (France) in 2005. Descriptive and logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine the socio demographic factors associated with the experience of HIV testing during the whole life-course. Adjusted on gender, age, education level, income, marital status and parenthood, we found that French participants born to foreign parent(s) (OR = 0.66 95% CI: 0.53; 0.83) and foreigners (OR = 0.68 95% CI: 0.52; 0.89) were less likely to report that they had an HIV test than French citizens born to (both) French parents. Respondents with foreign parent(s) (OR= 0.74 95% CI: 0.55; 0.99) were less likely to have had a voluntary HIV test. Being a woman (OR= 0.59 95% CI: 0.48; 0.73) and having a child born after 1992 (OR= 0.51 95% CI: 0.41; 0.65) were independently associated with a higher likelihood of a systematic test and a lesser probability of taking a voluntary test. In conclusion, gender and migrant status were found to be significantly associated with HIV testing in the Paris metropolitan area. Interventions and health policy intended to increase HIV testing and reduce HIV/AIDS should focus on migrant foreign populations but also on French citizens born from migrants.