FRIDAY, April 16, 2021 (HealthDay News) — One in four people with HIV experience intimate partner violence, according to a study published online March 31 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Ansley B. Lemons-Lyn, M.P.H., from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and colleagues used interview and medical record data from the 2015 to 2017 cycles of the Medical Monitoring Project to estimate the prevalence of physical violence by an intimate partner among adults with diagnosed HIV.
The researchers found that among people with diagnosed HIV, 26.3 percent reported having ever experienced intimate partner violence and 4.4 percent reported having experienced intimate partner violence in the previous 12 months. There were differences noted in the prevalence of intimate partner violence by gender and gender/sexual identity. Individuals engaged in behaviors associated with elevated HIV transmission risk and with unmet needs for supportive services were more likely to experience intimate partner violence. Those reporting recent intimate partner violence were less likely to be engaged in routine HIV care but were more likely to seek emergency care services and have poor HIV clinical outcomes.
“Screening for intimate partner violence among people with diagnosed HIV, coupled with supportive services and counseling, may lead to improved safety and HIV clinical outcomes and decreased need for emergency and inpatient medical services,” the authors write.
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