HIV Testing Among High School Students - United States, 2007

This article describes a study in which data were analyzed from the 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) to determine the extent to which adolescents are being tested for HIV. Results indicated that nationwide, 12.9 percent of all high school students had ever been tested for HIV. Testing increased with increasing grade level and decreased with increasing age at first sexual intercourse. Prevalence of HIV testing was higher among females than males, among non-Hispanic black students than Hispanic and non-Hispanic white students, was higher among students who had ever had sexual intercourse than those who had never had sexual intercourse, and among students who had ever had sexual intercourse. CDC recommends that health care providers offer HIV screening as part of routine medical care. It is suggested that schools can support screening efforts by including information on HIV testing in their HIV curricula.