Serious mental illness and risk of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses: An analysis of medicaid beneficiaries in eight states

Abstract

Objective: A longitudinal analysis was used to explore the relationship between diagnosis of serious mental illness and subsequent new diagnoses of HIV. Methods: Logistic regression was used to predict HIV/AIDS diagnoses in 2002-2004 among Medicaid beneficiaries in eight states (N=6,417,676) who were without HIV in 2001. Results for beneficiaries with and without serious mental illness, a substance use disorder, and psychiatric comorbidities in 2001 were compared. Results: After controlling for substance abuse or dependence and other factors, the analyses indicated that the odds of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses among beneficiaries with or without serious mental illness did not differ significantly. Compared with beneficiaries without a substance use disorder or serious mental illness, individuals with a substance use disorder but without serious mental illness were 3.1 times (OR=3.13, p