SEATTLE, June 5 (UPI) -- The HIV infection rate of non-Hispanic blacks is 20 times greater than the remainder of the U.S. population, according to a study by University of Washington.
Lead author Martina Morris, a sociologist who directs the University of Washington's Center for the Studies in Demography and Ecology, drew on the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health and uses data from more than 13,000 young adults who agreed to be screened for HIV infection.
The study, published in the American Journal of Public Health, found the infection rate for young non-Hispanic blacks ages 19 to 24 is 4.9 per 1,000 people compared to a rate of 0.22 per 1,000 for all other races.
Overall, of the nearly 13,200 individuals screened, 15 tested positive for HIV, eight were indeterminate and the remainder were negative, the study found. Twelve of the 15 positive tests were among non-Hispanic blacks, according to Morris.
The study differed from previous ones in that it had a large representative sample of young adults and did not rely on data of HIV cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
