A new study has found that a very few older U.S. women, especially African-Americans, are not interested in being tested for HIV, despite having significant risk factors for lifetime exposure.

Study author Dr. Aletha Akers, of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said that those tested for HIV have a tendency to do so late in the disease, when they are more likely to have obvious symptoms and progress more rapidly to AIDS and die within a year of HIV diagnosis.

“Older people largely have been overlooked in HIV prevention and testing programs, and consistently have lower HIV testing rates as compared with younger adults. Those who are tested tend to do so late in their disease, when they are more likely to have overt symptoms such as opportunistic infections. Often, they progress more rapidly to AIDS and die within a year of HIV diagnosis, which leaves little opportunity for treatment or secondary prevention for their partners,” said Dr. Akers.

Akers and colleagues analyzed data from 514 women ranging in age from 50 to 95. The women visited a general internal medicine clinic at a large, inner-city hospital in Atlanta over a period of 11 months in 2001 and 2002.

To assess attitudes concerning lifetime HIV infection risk and interest in HIV testing, trained research assistants administered a 68-item questionnaire in a private room over the course of a single, face-to-face interview with study participants, most of whom said they were not currently sexually active.