New Findings from University of North Carolina in the Area of HIV/AIDS Reported (Effects of Health Insurance Interruption on Loss of Hypertension…

Insurance Weekly News

New Findings from University of North Carolina in the Area of HIV/AIDS Reported (Effects of Health Insurance Interruption on Loss of Hypertension Control in Women With and Women Without HIV)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Investigators discuss new findings in Immune System Diseases and Conditions - HIV/AIDS. According to news reporting originating from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, by VerticalNews correspondents, research stated, "Among low-income women with and without HIV, it is a priority to reduce age-related comorbidities, including hypertension and its sequelae. Because consistent health insurance access has been identified as an important factor in controlling many chronic diseases, we estimated the effects of coverage interruption on loss of hypertension control in a cohort of women in the United States."

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from the University of North Carolina, "We analyzed prospective, longitudinal data from the Women's Interagency HIV Study. HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected women were included between 2005 and 2014 when they reported health insurance at consecutive biannual visits and had controlled hypertension, and were followed for any insurance break and loss of hypertension control. We estimated hazard ratios (HRs) by Cox proportional hazards regression with inverse-probability-of-treatment-and censoring weights (marginal structural models), and plotted the cumulative incidence of hypertension control loss. Among 890 HIV-infected women, the weighted HR for hypertension control loss comparing health insurance interruption to uninterrupted coverage was 1.37 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.99-1.91). Inclusion of AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) participation with health insurance modestly increased the HR (1.47; 95% CI, 1.04-2.07). Analysis of 272 HIV-uninfected women yielded a similar HR (1.39; 95% CI, 0.88-2.21). Additionally, there were indications of uninterrupted coverage having a protective effect on hypertension when compared with the natural course in HIV-infected (HR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.61-1.11) and HIV-uninfected (HR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.52-1.19) women. This study provides evidence that health insurance continuity promotes hypertension control in key populations."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "Interventions that ensure coverage stability and ADAP access should be a policy priority."

For more information on this research see: Effects of Health Insurance Interruption on Loss of Hypertension Control in Women With and Women Without HIV. Journal of Womens Health, 2017;26(12):1292-1301. Journal of Womens Health can be contacted at: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc, 140 Huguenot Street, 3RD Fl, New Rochelle, NY 10801, USA.

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting A. Edmonds, Univ North Carolina Chapel Hill, Gillings Sch Global Public Hlth, Dept. of Epidemiol, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States. Additional authors for this research include C. Ludema, J.J. Eron, S.R. Cole, A.A. Adedimeji, M.H. Cohen, H.L. Cooper, M. Fischl, M.O. Johnson, D.D. Krause, D. Merenstein, J. Milam, T.E. Wilson and A.A. Adimora.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2016.6308. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

Keywords for this news article include: Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States, North and Central America, Viral Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Conditions, Cardiovascular Diseases and Conditions, Immune System Diseases and Conditions, Primate Lentiviruses, Health and Medicine, Vertebrate Viruses, Health Insurance, Hypertension, Retroviridae, RNA Viruses, HIV/AIDS, University of North Carolina.