Socio-economic differences in the uptake of HIV testing and associated factors in South Africa

BMC Public Health

Table 3 HIV related risk characteristics and HIV testing by socio-economic status (SES) among youth and adults 15 years and older, South Africa 2017

Variable	Total		Low SES		High SES
Sexual activity	N	Tested	n	Tested	n	Tested	p-value
Never had sex	3142	42.3	1368	41.0	1920	45.1	0.019
Had sex	15,741	81.2	6766	80.4	9895	82.1	0.006
Sexual debut
Sex before the age of 15 years	324	67.4	169	65.6	173	69.5	0.441
Sex at 15 years and older	4859	57.2	2269	58.0	2710	57.7	0.831
Age of sexual partner
Partner more than 5 years younger	1971	82.2	2344	82.3	3908	85.2	0.002
Partner within five years	5849	84.3	813	81.3	1179	83.2	0.274
Partner more than 5 years older	2308	89.8	1073	90.3	1414	90.0	0.804
Number of sexual partners in the past 12 months
1 sexual partner	9289	85.2	3827	84.5	6024	85.7	0.102
2+ or more sexual partners	892	82.5	438	79.4	504	86.2	0.006
Condom use at last sex in the past 12 months
No condom use	6564	84.9	2445	83.8	4535	85.4	0.075
Yes condom use	3541	85.0	1817	84.1	1919	86.3	0.058
AUDIT Score
Abstainers	13,037	73.5	5974	72.9	7835	74.7	0.017
Low risk (1–7)	3537	77.9	1177	76.8	2532	78.7	0.193
Risky level (8–15)	1257	79.2	557	76.2	761	81.4	0.022
High risk/harmful (16–19)	209	74.9	113	68.8	112	81.5	0.028
High risk/hazardous (20+)	226	70.6	135	68.7	104	72.9	0.480
Correct HIV knowledge and myth rejection
No knowledge	12,575	74.1	5760	73.0	7518	75.5	0.001
Yes knowledge	7337	77.1	2726	75.6	5034	78.6	0.003
Self-perceived risk of HIV infection
No risk	15,921	72.3	6089	69.3	10,681	74.8	< 0.001
Yes risk	2378	79.4	1363	78.2	1186	80.8	0.105
HIV serostatus
HIV Positive	2358	87.6	1449	85.9	909	90.0	0.003
HIV Negative	12,044	74.8	4889	72.7	7155	76.2	< 0.001

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