Perinatal HIV testing and diagnosis in Illinois after implementation of the Perinatal Rapid Testing Initiative.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to assess whether implementation of a statewide initiative was associated with changes in perinatal human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing practices. STUDY DESIGN: This was an observational cohort study of all 1,141,799 women who delivered in Illinois birthing hospitals over a 7 year period after the introduction of the Perinatal Rapid Testing Implementation in Illinois (PRTII) initiative. Changes in the frequencies of HIV status documentation, rapid test utilization, and newborns discharged with unknown HIV status were assessed. RESULTS: The comparison of annual data from 2005 to 2011 demonstrated a 63% decrease in women with undocumented HIV status (11.7% vs 4.3%, P < .001), a 98% decrease in women with unknown status who did not receive rapid testing (29.6% vs 0.5%, P < .001), and a greater than 99% decrease in newborns with undocumented status at discharge (2.74% vs 0.01%, P < .001). CONCLUSION: This statewide initiative resulted in a significant and sustained increase in the frequency of maternal-baby pairs who were discharged from the hospital with documented HIV status.