July 31 (UPI) -- A study by researchers at Louisiana State University Health New Orleans School of Public Health found that home-based kits would increase HIV testing.
The study, published in the July edition of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, found that 86 percent of heterosexuals who are at high risk for HIV would use a home-based test kit provided by mail and 99 percent would see a doctor based on positive test results.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are over 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States and approximately 50,000 new infections diagnosed each year.
"In 2014, 24 percent of new HIV infections were attributed to heterosexual activity," William Robinson, associate research professor of Behavioral & Community Health Sciences at LSU, said in a press release. "Yet many at-risk individuals do not test routinely or have never been tested."
Researchers surveyed 470 participants, age 18 and older, as part of the CDC National HIV Behavioral Surveillance of Heterosexuals at Increased Risk for HIV study in 2013.
The study revealed 85.56 percent of respondents said they would be willing to take a home-based test if it was mailed to them and of those, 54.19 percent said they would return the result back to the provider.
"Our findings demonstrate that home-based testing could be an effective means to reach some heterosexuals who have never been tested," Robinson said.
