Diagnoses of HIV Infection in the United States and Dependent Areas 2019: Commentary

Overview

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collects, analyzes, and disseminates surveillance data on HIV infection; these data are one of the nation’s primary sources of information on HIV in the United States. The annual surveillance report, published by CDC, summarizes information about diagnosed HIV infection in the United States and dependent areas. HIV surveillance data are used by CDC’s public health partners in other federal agencies, health departments, nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, and the general public to help focus prevention efforts; plan services; allocate resources; develop policy; detect, monitor, and intervene in HIV clusters; and monitor trends in HIV infection.

Numbers and rates of diagnoses of HIV infection during 2015–2019 are based on data from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 6 U.S. dependent areas (American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the Republic of Palau, and the U.S. Virgin Islands). When presenting rates by race/ethnicity, data are only provided for the United States (50 states and the District of Columbia) because denominator data are not available by race/ethnicity for all U.S. dependencies.

During 2015–2019, the annual number and rate of diagnoses of HIV infection decreased in both the United States and 6 dependent areas. Although numbers and rates decreased overall, diagnoses of HIV infection increased in some subgroups and decreased in others. Variations in trends among groups are expected and may be due to differences in testing behaviors, targeted HIV testing initiatives, or changes in the numbers of new HIV infections (incidence) in some subgroups. For information and data on trends among selected populations, see the national and special focus profile sections. Data for stage 3 (AIDS) are available via Atlas Plus (for 2000 through the most recent year) and in the Stage 3 (AIDS) classification slide set (for cumulative data through the most recent year).

Report Changes

The use of data reported to CDC through December 31, 2020 will allow for a 12-month reporting delay and assessment of trends through the most recent diagnosis, death, and prevalence year (2019). Death and prevalence trends through 2019 should be interpreted with caution due to delays in reporting of death information to CDC.

• Tables were added and display data for adolescents and young adults in 2- and 3-year age groups for diagnoses of HIV infection (Tables 8a/b) and prevalence (Tables 19a/b).
• Table 20 displays data for diagnoses of HIV infection and prevalence among children, and adults and adolescents for the United States and 6 dependent areas.
• Adolescents and young adults were added to the special focus profiles section.