COMPARISON OF PATIENTS REFUSING WITH PATIENTS ACCEPTING UNLINKED ANONYMOUS HIV TESTING IN AN OUTPATIENT STD DEPARTMENT IN THE NETHERLANDS

From 1 February 1993 to 1 February 1994 all new patients, known patien ts with new problems, and prostitutes attending the Outpatient Departm ent of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) of the University Hospital Rotterdam were asked to participate in unlinked anonymous human immuno deficiency virus (HN) testing and to answer some questions. Data from the medical records of 300 patients refusing to participate were compa red with self-reported data obtained from 2701 people accepting, to ve rify if the HIV seroprevalence among accepters could be representative for all STD department visitors. Men refusing were more often of fore ign origin, had more often had more than one partner during the previo us 6 months, more often attended the STD department for the first time , and more often had an STD diagnosed than men accepting. Women refusi ng were more often of foreign origin, had less often had more than one partner during the previous 6 months, and had more often used drugs i ntravenously than women accepting. Because most findings associated wi th refusing are also associated with being infected with HIV, the HIV seroprevalence among refusers is likely to be higher than among accept ers. We therefore advise unlinked anonymous HIV testing of all patient s visiting an STD department.