The percentage of U.S. adults undergoing HIV testing nationwide is less than 40 percent, according to a study published online in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Marc A. Pitasi, M.P.H., from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Atlanta, and colleagues analyzed data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to determine the percentage of adults tested for HIV in the United States nationwide, including 50 local jurisdictions where the majority of new diagnoses of HIV infection were concentrated in 2016 and 2017 and seven states with a disproportionate occurrence of HIV in rural areas relative to other states.

The researchers found that the percentage of adults tested for HIV was 38.9 percent nationwide, 46.9 percent in the 50 local jurisdictions, and 35.5 percent in the seven states. The percentage of testing varied widely by jurisdiction but was suboptimal and generally low in jurisdictions with low rates of HIV diagnosis.

"These data provide a baseline from which to measure changes in screening in these jurisdictions and other parts of the United States over time," the authors write. "To achieve national goals and end the HIV epidemic in the United States, innovative and novel screening approaches might be needed to reach segments of the population that have never been tested for HIV."

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