Time elapse since last HIV test and geographic origin in the Paris area, France

Background: In France, people from Sub-Saharan countries are at higher risk for late diagnosis, despite more frequent recourses to HIV testing than people of French origin. The purpose of this study was to compare the mean duration since the last HIV test according to geographic origins. Methods: This study used the data of the SIRS cohort study that included 3,023 households representative of the greater Paris area in 2005. The recourse to HIV testing and duration since the last test were studied in relation to socioeconomic factors, psychosocial characteristics, and geographic origin. Multivariate Anova analyses were performed. Results: People from Sub-Saharan Africa were more likely to be tested at least once in their lifetime (78.5%) than those of French origin (56.2%)(p<0.0000). The mean duration since the last test was lower among Sub-Saharan migrants (2.15 years) compared to people from French origin (4.84 years)(F=12.67,p<0.0000). These differences remained significant even after adjustment on gender, age, number of relationships, time spent in France and difficulties in reading/writing French(F=5.73,p=0.0007). A gender analysis underlined the same pattern for both sexes, with more differences in the mean duration by geographic origin for women. Conclusions: These results as well as recent epidemiological data seem to show that interventions carried out since the earlier 2000s to increase HIV testing and decrease late diagnosis in the particular population of Sub-Saharan migrants have been effective. Because of their effectiveness, more policies should be put into place that focus on migrant groups from other parts of the world.