HIV-infected men who have sex with men, before and after release from jail: the impact of age and race, results from a multi-site study

Abstract

The US HIV/AIDS epidemic is concentrated among men who have sex with men (MSM). Black men are disproportionately affected by incarceration and Black MSM experience higher infection rates and worse HIV-related health outcomes compared to non-Black MSM. We compared HIV treatment outcomes for Black MSM to other HIV-infected men from one of the largest cohorts of HIV-infected jail detainees (N = 1270) transitioning to the community. Of the 574 HIV-infected men released, 113 (19.7%) self-identified as being MSM. Compared to other male subgroups, young Black MSM (<30 years old, N = 18) were significantly less likely: (1) before incarceration, to have insurance, access to an HIV healthcare provider, and use cocaine; (2) during incarceration, to receive a disease management intervention; and (3) in the 6 months post-release, to link to HIV care. Interventions that effectively link and retain young HIV-infected Black MSM in care in communities before incarceration and post-release from jail are urgently needed.

Keywords:

• MSM
• Black
• HIV
• jail
• retention in care
• insurance
• addiction
• adherence
• secondary prevention

Acknowledgements

Enhancing Linkages to HIV Primary Care Services Initiative (EnhanceLink) was a Special Project of National Significance, funded by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA; U90HA07632, FLA and ACS). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. The authors would like to acknowledge the staff at all study sites, as well as all the participants for their time and effort.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Panagiotis Vagenas http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2107-0377

Additional information

Funding

Funding specifically for this analysis was provided through career development grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse [K24 DA017072, FLA; K02 DA032333, SAS; K01 DA037826, AZ] and the Emory University CFAR [P30AI050409, ACS]. The funding sources played no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, writing of the manuscript, or the decision to submit the paper for publication.