Medical Monitoring Project Provides National Population Based Data on Patients With HIV

The Medical Monitoring Project (MMP)—a national population-based behavioral and clinical surveillance system of adults diagnosed with HIV in the United States—provides information for monitoring progress of national treatment and prevention goals and is the only source of annual population-based data of those with HIV, according to a recent report.

The research, published by JMIR, aimed to demonstrate the rationale and methodology of the MMP. The MMP, which is sponsored by the CDC, utilizes a stratified 2-stage sample design in order to select annual samples of persons living with diagnosed HIV from the National HIV Surveillance System (NHSS). The researchers then conduct interviews and medical record abstractions with the participants.

“The primary objectives of MMP are to provide locally and nationally representative estimates of HIV transmission risk behaviors and clinical outcomes among persons with diagnosed HIV; describe health-related behaviors; determine accessibility and use of prevention, care, and support services; increase understanding of care and treatment provided; and examine variations of these factors by respondent characteristics,” explained the authors.

The results of the data are published through routine annual reports, conference presentations, and scientific publications. Additionally, the CDC releases the data upon request, contingent on security and confidentiality guidelines.

The direct sampling of participants from the NHSS allows the MMP data to be linkable to NHSS data which allows additional analyses for public health programming to take place. Additionally the CDC can use the data from the MMP to guide efforts designed to achieve national goals and objectives from the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention (DHAP) Strategic Plan. On a state and local level, the MMP can be used to inform Integrated HIV Prevention and Care Plans.

“To advance the CDC’s High Impact Prevention approach to HIV prevention and realize the clinical and prevention benefits of TasP at the population and individual levels, it is critical to ensure that everyone living with HIV is engaged in medical care and virally suppressed,” concluded the authors. “MMP contributes essential information on barriers to treatment and care, use of and adherence to ART, viral suppression, and sexual behaviors that could increase the risk of HIV transmission.”

Reference

Beer L, Johnson C, Fagan J, et al. A national behavioral and clinical surveillance system of adults with diagnosed HIV (The Medical Monitoring Project): Protocol for an annual cross-sectional interview and medical record abstraction survey [published online November 18, 2019]. JMIR. doi:10.2196/15453.