Abstract
The study's objective was to identify factors associated with differences in the rate of viral suppression among minority women with HIV/AIDS in care in the Miami-Dade County Ryan White Program (RWP). A retrospective cohort study was conducted using social characteristics and laboratory data of minority women enrolled in the Miami-Dade County RWP in 2017. Viral suppression was defined as <200 copies/mL using the last viral load test of 2017. Multilevel logistic regression models were used to estimate adjusted odds ratio (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Of the 1,550 racial/ethnic minority women in the study population, 43.1% were African American, 31.3% were Hispanic, and 25.6% were Haitian. The proportion of women virally suppressed was lower among African Americans (80.8%) than among Hispanics (86.4%) and Haitians (85.1%). Viral suppression rates were significantly lower among women aged 18-34 years (aOR: 0.41, CI: 0.27-0.64) and 35-49 years (0.63, 0.45-0.90) vs. ≥50 years, born in the United States (0.48, 0.30-0.78), having a household income of <100% the federal poverty level (0.54, 0.30-0.95), previously diagnosed with AIDS (0.60, 0.44-0.81), reporting problematic drug use (0.23, 0.08-0.69), and living in a residentially unstable neighborhood (0.77, 0.64-0.93). Race/ethnicity was not associated with viral suppression after adjusting for other factors. Factors associated with lack of viral suppression were similar among minority racial/ethnic groups. Interventions at the individual level focusing on young, U.S. born individuals, and those who report drug use, and at the neighborhood level for those living in residentially unstable neighborhoods are needed to improve viral suppression outcomes.