HIV TESTING PRACTICES OF PRIMARY-CARE PHYSICIANS - AN ONTARIO SURVEY

To determine whether physicians are knowledgeable about the risk facto rs associated with HIV and whether perceived testing practices coincid e with testing guidelines, 1,236 physicians were surveyed about which patients they would recommend for HIV testing. A total of 480 usable r esponses were obtained (response rate of 50% of the eligible sample). Most would suggest testing to partners of intravenous drug users, pati ents who received blood transfusions between 1978 and 1985, homosexual s and bisexuals, and patients with more than two sexually transmitted diseases. Only 46.4% would suggest testing to patients with more than two sexual partners, and 65.8% would test anyone who asks. Other patie nts to whom physicians would recommend testing were listed by 16.2%. L ogistic regression (F-step) was used to examine the relationship betwe en physician characteristics and likelihood of recommending testing. A s a rule, physicians are knowledgeable about the major risk factors an d would recommend testing according to guidelines. However, there may be a difference between questionnaire responses and actual practice.