Question
How many people in the UK were diagnosed late last year?
19 December 2014. Related: All topics.
What does late diagnosis mean? How many people were diagnosed late in the UK in 2013?
Answer
Public Health England published a HIV in the UK report in November 2014. It contains figues relating to HIV in the UK up to December 2013.
Late diagnosis means having a CD4 count below 350 within three months of diagnosis. 350 is the the CD4 count at which UK guidelines recommend starting treatment.
In 2013 2,500 (42%) adults (aged 15+) were diagnosed late. 1,430 (24%) were severely immunocompromised. This means they had a CD4 count below 200. Below a CD4 count of 200 your risk of getting serious illnesses like pneumonia increases.
The smallest proportion of people diagnosed late was in men who have sex with men (MSM) at 31%. The highest was among heterosexual men and women. This is was almost two thirds of men (62%) and just over half of women (51%).
The full report is available online.
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