HIV Epidemiology, Care, and Treatment Outcomes Among Student and Nonstudent Youths Living With HIV in Southwest China Between 1996 and 2019: Historical Cohort Study

Background Nearly one-third of new HIV infections occurred among youth in 2019 worldwide. Previous studies suggested that student youths living with HIV and nonstudent youths living with HIV might differ in some risk factors, transmission routes, HIV care, and disease outcomes. Objective This study aimed to compare the HIV epidemic, disease outcomes, and access to care among student and nonstudent youths living with HIV aged 16 to 25 years in Guangxi, China. Methods We performed a historical cohort study by extracting data on all HIV or AIDS cases aged 16 to 25 years in Guangxi, China, during 1996-2019 from the Chinese Comprehensive Response Information Management System of HIV or AIDS. We conducted analyses to assess possible differences in demographic and behavioral characteristics, HIV care, and disease outcomes between student and nonstudent youths living with HIV. Multivariate Cox regression was used to assess differences in mortality and virologic failure between student and nonstudent cases. Results A total of 13,839 youths aged 16 to 25 years were infected with HIV during 1996-2019. Among them, 10,202 cases were infected through sexual contact, most of whom were men (n=5507, 54%); 868 (8.5%) were students, and 9334 (91.5%) were not students. The number of student youths living with HIV was lower before 2006 but gradually increased from 2007 to 2019. In contrast, the nonstudent cases increased rapidly in 2005, then gradually declined after 2012. Student cases were mainly infected through homosexual contact (n=614, 70.7% vs n=1447, 15.5%; P<.001), while nonstudent cases were more likely to be infected through heterosexual contact (n=7887, 84.5% vs n=254, 29.3%; P<.001). Moreover, nonstudent cases had a significantly lower CD4 count than student cases at the time of HIV diagnosis (332 vs 362 cells/μL; P<.001). Nonstudents also had a delayed antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation compared to students (93 days vs 22 days; P<.001). Furthermore, the mortality rate of 0.4 and 1.0 deaths per 100 person-years were recorded for student and nonstudent youths with HIV, respectively. Overall, the mortality risk in nonstudent cases was 2.3 times that of student cases (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR] 2.3, 95% CI 1.2-4.2; P=.008). The virologic failure rate was 2.3 and 2.6 per 100 person-years among student and nonstudent youths living with HIV, respectively. Nonstudent cases had double the risk of virologic failure compared to student cases (AHR 1.9, 95% CI 1.3-2.6; P<.001). Conclusions Nonstudent youths living with HIV might face a low CD4 count at the time of HIV diagnosis, delayed ART initiation, and increased risk of death and virologic failure. Thus, HIV prevention and interventions should target youths who dropped out of school early to encourage safe sex and HIV screening, remove barriers to HIV care, and promote early ART initiation to curb the HIV epidemic among youths.