Factors affecting health status in African Americans living with HIV/AIDS

This study surveyed face-to-face 111 African American newly diagnosed and l iving with human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) from the Washington D.C. area, to ascertain the use of, and nee d for, early intervention services. The survey instrument included sections on demographics, level of health functioning and health indicators, social and financial support, and needed services. This article constructs a heal th status proxy variable from survey items and examines its relationship to biological and social variables. Variables found to have a significant rel ationship with health status are gender, type of health insurance, employme nt, receiving Social Security Disability Income, and level of education. A log-linear model for selection of parsimony found that the type of health i nsurance was most highly predictive of health status, when controlling for other variables. Persons who receive Medicaid report no better levels of he alth status than those without health insurance. Having private health insu rance is associated with a 5.3-fold greater chance of having good or excell ent health status.