HIV Testing Deserts and Vulnerability Among Adolescents and Young Adults in Tampa Bay, Florida

Purpose: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) burden among Florida adolescents and young adults (AYA, aged 13–24 years), particularly in Tampa Bay, is among the highest in the nation. We sought to determine the association between zip code-level test site accessibility and AYA HIV burden, compare this association with adult (aged 25–44 years) HIV burden, and identify local AYA HIV testing deserts. We further aimed to identify the association between test site accessibility and population-level markers of social disadvantage. Methods: We geocoded HIV test sites and determined the percent surface area per zip code within 15-minute walking distance to ≥ 1 test sites (PSA15) in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties. We calculated Pearson's correlation coefficients for the association of PSA15 and HIV burden by age group and, separately, the association of PSA15 and population-level characteristics. Results: Of the 96 zip codes analyzed, 36.5% had a PSA15 for HIV testing of 0%. The association between PSA15 and HIV burden was substantially higher for adults (r = 0.51, p < .001) than for AYA (r = 0.09, p = .38). Overall, we identified four potential AYA testing deserts. We also found that greater PSA15 was correlated with greater %Black/African-American residents (r = 0.32, p = .002), greater %residents living in poverty (r = 0.27, p = .008), and lower child opportunity index scores (r = −0.29, p = .004). Discussion: Walking-accessible HIV test sites in Tampa Bay were limited and geographically distributed largely based on adult HIV burden, population-level markers of social disadvantage, and among areas with higher percentages of Black/African-American residents. Test site distribution was less correlated with AYA HIV burden, leaving this population vulnerable across multiple testing deserts.