HIV Care Outcomes Among Hispanics or Latinos with Diagnosed HIV Infection — United States, 2015

Data from CDC's National HIV Surveillance System (NHSS)* are used to monitor progress toward achieving national goals set forth in the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention's Strategic Plan (1) and other federal directives† for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing, care, and treatment outcomes and HIV-related disparities in the United States. Recent data indicate that Hispanics or Latinos§ are disproportionately affected by HIV infection. Hispanics or Latinos living with diagnosed HIV infection have lower levels of care and viral suppression than do non-Hispanic whites but higher levels than those reported among blacks or African Americans (2). The annual rate of diagnosis of HIV infection among Hispanics or Latinos is three times that of non-Hispanic whites (3), and a recent study found increases in incidence of HIV infection among Hispanic or Latino men who have sex with men (4). Among persons with HIV infection diagnosed through 2013 who were alive at year-end 2014, 70.2% of Hispanics or Latinos received any HIV medical care compared with 76.1% of non-Hispanic whites (2). CDC used NHSS data to describe HIV care outcomes among Hispanics or Latinos. Among male Hispanics or Latinos with HIV infection diagnosed in 2015, fewer males with infection attributed to heterosexual contact (34.6%) had their infection diagnosed at an early stage (stage 1 = 12.0%, stage 2 = 22.6%) than males with infection attributed to male-to-male sexual contact (60.9%: stage 1 = 25.2%, stage 2 = 35.7%). The percentage of Hispanics or Latinos linked to care after diagnosis of HIV infection increased with increasing age; females aged 45-54 years with infection attributed to injection drug use (IDU) accounted for the lowest percentage (61.4%) of persons linked to care. Among Hispanics or Latinos living with HIV infection, care and viral suppression were lower among selected age groups of Hispanic or Latino males with HIV infection attributed to IDU than among males with infection attributed to male-to-male sexual contact and male-to-male sexual contact and IDU. Intensified efforts to develop and implement effective interventions and public health strategies that increase engagement in care and viral suppression among Hispanics or Latinos (3,5), particularly those who inject drugs, are needed to achieve national HIV prevention goals.