THE SEROEPIDEMIOLOGY OF HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS IN THE UNITED-STATES HOUSEHOLD POPULATION - NHANES-III, 1988-1991

To provide an estimate of the seroprevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in a representative sample of the U.S. household populati on, serum samples from participants in the third National Health and N utrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) were tested for HIV antibody. The testing was performed anonymously on 5,430 individuals 18-59 year s old from phase 1 of NHANES III conducted from 1988 to 1991. Twenty-n ine individuals were HIV positive. The total weighted prevalence was 0 .39%. The population estimate of infected individuals was 547,000, wit h a 95% confidence interval of 299,000-1,020,000 infected persons. Bla ck participants were four times more likely to be HIV positive than wh ite/other individuals and three times more likely than Mexican America ns, Men were three times more likely to be infected than women. Higher nonresponse to the survey and to phlebotomy was observed in young whi te men; therefore these data provide a conservative estimate of HIV in fection in the general household population. This estimate does not in clude individuals who do not live in households and who may be at high er risk of infection, such as persons in penal institutions, the homel ess, or certain hospitalized patients.