PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Inequities in HIV testing, diagnosis and care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities

Inequities in HIV testing, diagnosis and care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities
2024-02-15
(Press-News.org)

People with disabilities are often at higher risk for exposure to HIV due to barriers in engaging healthcare and other systemic factors and are thus considered a priority for prevention and testing efforts. However, these efforts don’t always extend to people with intellectual disabilities due to the perception that people with intellectual disabilities are mostly asexual.

Researchers at University of Michigan Health conducted one of the largest epidemiological studies of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to closely examine where the gaps in HIV care lie and found large disparities in care for Black patients as well as for patients with autism and co-occurring intellectual disabilities.

People with autism and an intellectual disability and Black people with intellectual and developmental disabilities received worse care outcomes across the board since they were not tested as often for HIV and had disparities in receipt of HIV-related treatment.

“There is a large misunderstanding that patients with intellectual disabilities are asexual and therefore don’t require HIV testing or education,” said Tyler G. James, PhD, an assistant professor of family medicine at U-M Medical School and lead author on the study.

“This is not true and not providing proper treatment for this population leads to increases in patients with HIV and the spread of HIV.”

Of those who have an intellectual disability and HIV, 59% are Black despite the fact that Black people are just 21% of the population with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The results of the study found that among people with HIV and intellectual disabilities, 71% were receiving antiretroviral therapy in line with global estimates in the general population.

However, only 54% of autistic adults with co-occurring intellectual disabilities and HIV received antiretroviral therapy, well below the national goal of 95%. This result aligns with past research indicating that autistic people with intellectual disabilities experience worse health and social outcomes. 

In addition, people with intellectual disabilities were more likely to receive an HIV diagnosis but less likely to receive antiretroviral therapy if they had co-occurring serious mental illness or a substance use disorder.

James and his team want to use this research to spark national conversation about how to ensure patients with intellectual disabilities and other populations that are underserved are receiving proper care when it comes to HIV testing, treatment and education.

“The more we can expose how ableism works itself into our healthcare, the better we can change to improve healthcare for all patients,” said James.

“For people with intellectual disabilities, we want you to know that your experiences are seen, and it is important to continue to advocate for yourself and your sexual health. We are advocating with you.”

Additional authors: T. G. James, Department of Family Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. M.S. Argenyi, Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA, USA. A. Gravino, Rutgers Center for Adult Autism Services, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA. T.W. Benevides, Institute of Public Health and Preventative Health & Department of Occupational Therapy, Agusta University, Augusta, GA, USA.

Funding for this research provided by NIDLIRR (ACL), under 90RTHF0005 and American Occupational Therapy Foundation Health Services Research Grant (awarded to T. Benevides).

Citation: “Human immunodeficiency virus diagnosis and care among adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who are publicly insured,” Journal of Intellectual Disability Research. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jir.13099

END


[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Inequities in HIV testing, diagnosis and care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Earthquake fatality measure offers new way to estimate impact on countries

2024-02-15
A new measure that compares earthquake-related fatalities to a country’s population size concludes that Ecuador, Lebanon, Haiti, Turkmenistan, Iran and Portugal have experienced the greatest impact from fatalities in the past five centuries. The new impact measure, introduced in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America by Max Wyss and colleagues at International Centre for Earth Simulation Foundation, is called the earthquake fatality load or EQFL. The EQFL of a particular earthquake is the ratio of earthquake fatalities to the population estimate for the country in the year of the earthquake. In their study, Wyss, Michel Speiser ...

Using cannabis can ease cravings for street-level drugs, UBC research suggests

2024-02-15
New findings from researchers at the University of British Columbia suggest that cannabis could play a role in addressing the ongoing opioid overdose crisis. A new publication from Dr. Hudson Reddon, alongside UBC Okanagan’s Dr. Zach Walsh and UBC Vancouver’s Dr. M-J Milloy, observed that using cannabis is associated with decreased use of crystal methamphetamine among people at highest risk of overdose in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. About 45 per cent of the study’s participants reported using cannabis to manage their cravings for stimulant drugs ...

New nuclei can help shape our understanding of fundamental science on Earth and in the cosmos

2024-02-15
EAST LANSING, Mich. – In creating five new isotopes, an international research team working at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB, at Michigan State University has brought the stars closer to Earth. The isotopes — known as thulium-182, thulium-183, ytterbium-186, ytterbium-187 and lutetium-190 — were reported Feb. 15 in the journal Physical Review Letters. These represent the first batch of new isotopes made at FRIB, a user facility for the U.S. Department of Energy ...

Searching for clues in the history book of the ocean

2024-02-15
Oxygen is fundamental to sustaining life on Earth. The ocean gets its oxygen from its uppermost layers in contact with the atmosphere. As our planet continues to warm, the ocean is gradually losing its capacity to absorb oxygen, with severe consequences on marine ecosystems and human activities that depend on them. While these trends will likely continue in the future, it remains unclear how ocean oxygen will redistribute across the ocean interior, where ocean currents and biological degradation of biomass dominate over atmospheric diffusion. “Marine sediments are the history book of the ocean. ...

Car fumes, weeds pose double whammy for fire-loving native plants

Car fumes, weeds pose double whammy for fire-loving native plants
2024-02-15
Springtime brings native wildflowers to bloom in the Santa Monica Mountains, northwest of Los Angeles. These beauties provide food for insects, maintain healthy soil and filter water seeping into the ground — in addition to offering breathtaking displays of color.  They’re also good at surviving after wildfire, having adapted to it through millennia. But new research shows wildflowers that usually would burst back after a blaze and a good rain are losing out to the long-standing, double threat of city smog and nonnative weeds. A recent study led by Justin Valliere, assistant professor in the UC ...

How Chinese migrants in Los Angeles Chinatown gained self-reliance

How Chinese migrants in Los Angeles Chinatown gained self-reliance
2024-02-15
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States was high, as working-class laborers in the country viewed Chinese workers as a threat. Prior research has found that during that period, approximately 400,000 Chinese migrants came to the U.S., many of whom went to California to build the Transcontinental Railroad. Following the project's completion, competition for jobs grew tougher, and passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 banned Chinese laborers from immigrating to the U.S. But ...

New study by researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill finds chemical composition of US air pollution changed over time

2024-02-15
A new study published in Atmospheric Environment by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill analyzed space and time trends for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the continental United States to track the progress of regulatory actions by federal, state and local authorities aimed at curbing air pollution. The team found that while the annual average concentration for PM2.5 had been significantly reduced, its chemical composition had changed during the study period of 2006 to 2020. Their analysis suggests targeted strategies to reduce specific pollutants for different regions ...

ASHG names Amanda Perl as Chief Executive Officer

2024-02-15
For Immediate Release: Thursday, February 15, 2024, 3:00pm U.S. Eastern Time Media Contact: Kara Flynn, 202.257.8424, press@ashg.org ROCKVILLE, MD - The American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) is excited to announce the selection of Amanda Perl as the organization’s next Chief Executive Officer. Perl has served in numerous association leadership positions with deep experience in strategic planning, membership, publishing, communications, and society operations, as well as meetings and conferences. “ASHG is delighted to welcome Amanda, a seasoned association executive, to the team,” said ASHG President Bruce D. Gelb, MD. “We are confident ...

GV1001 reduces neurodegeneration and prolongs lifespan in mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease

GV1001 reduces neurodegeneration and prolongs lifespan in mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease
2024-02-15
“[...] accelerated aging and Alzheimer’s disease are closely related, and this study confirmed that GV1001 has multiple anti-aging effects.” BUFFALO, NY- February 15, 2024 – A new research paper was published on the cover of Aging (listed by MEDLINE/PubMed as "Aging (Albany NY)" and "Aging-US" by Web of Science) Volume 16, Issue 3, entitled, “GV1001 reduces neurodegeneration and prolongs lifespan in 3xTg-AD mouse model through anti-aging effects.” GV1001, which mimics the activity of human telomerase reverse transcriptase, protects neural cells from amyloid beta (Aβ) toxicity and other stressors through ...

Study: Ablative stereotactic magnetic resonance-guided adaptive radiation therapy may improve overall survival in patients with pancreatic cancer

2024-02-15
MIAMI, FL – February 15, 2024 – A study co-led by researchers at Miami Cancer Institute, part of Baptist Health South Florida, found that ablative stereotactic magnetic resonance (MR)-guided adaptive radiation therapy may improve local control (LC) and overall survival (OS) in patients with borderline resectable (BRPC) and locally advanced pancreas cancer (LAPC). Long-term outcomes from the Phase 2 SMART trial demonstrate encouraging OS and limited toxicity as published recently in Radiotherapy & Oncology (“The Green Journal”). “Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is a leading cause of cancer death. Surgery is the only known ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Industrial air pollution triggers ice formation in clouds, reducing cloud cover and boosting snowfall

Emerging alternatives to reduce animal testing show promise

Presenting Evo – a model for decoding and designing genetic sequences

Global plastic waste set to double by 2050, but new study offers blueprint for significant reductions

Industrial snow: Factories trigger local snowfall by freezing clouds

Backyard birds learn from their new neighbors when moving house

New study in Science finds that just four global policies could eliminate more than 90% of plastic waste and 30% of linked carbon emissions by 2050

Breakthrough in capturing 'hot' CO2 from industrial exhaust

New discovery enables gene therapy for muscular dystrophies, other disorders

Anti-anxiety and hallucination-like effects of psychedelics mediated by distinct neural circuits

How do microbiomes influence the study of life?

Plant roots change their growth pattern during ‘puberty’

Study outlines key role of national and EU policy to control emissions from German hydrogen economy

Beloved Disney classics convey an idealized image of fatherhood

Sensitive ceramics for soft robotics

Trends in hospitalizations and liver transplants associated with alcohol-induced liver disease

Spinal cord stimulation vs medical management for chronic back and leg pain

Engineered receptors help the immune system home in on cancer

How conflicting memories of sex and starvation compete to drive behavior

Scientists discover ‘entirely unanticipated’ role of protein netrin1 in spinal cord development

Novel SOURCE study examining development of early COPD in ages 30 to 55

NRL completes development of robotics capable of servicing satellites, enabling resilience for the U.S. space infrastructure

Clinical trial shows positive results for potential treatment to combat a challenging rare disease

New research shows relationship between heart shape and risk of cardiovascular disease

Increase in crisis coverage, but not the number of crisis news events

New study provides first evidence of African children with severe malaria experiencing partial resistance to world’s most powerful malaria drug

Texting abbreviations makes senders seem insincere, study finds

Living microbes discovered in Earth’s driest desert

Artemisinin partial resistance in Ugandan children with complicated malaria

When is a hole not a hole? Researchers investigate the mystery of 'latent pores'

[Press-News.org] Inequities in HIV testing, diagnosis and care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities