Background

The focus in HIV care so far have been to reach good physical conditions and through the UNAIDS 90-90-90 target. However, health also includes mental and social well-being as well as the absence of stigma and discrimination. The overall aim of this study is to explore the association between living as open with HIV as one wants and suicide thoughts among 16-29-year old young people living with HIV in Sweden. A secondary aim is to see how this can be understood in the intersections of gender and sexual identity.

Methods

This study is based on a national survey of young people living with HIV conducted at HIV-clinics in 2018. The survey had 173 respondents, giving a response rate of 36 percent. Logistic regression models were used to calculate odds ratios (OR) using suicide thoughts as the outcome variable and open with HIV status, gender and sexual identity as exposure variables. Gender and sexual identity was combined to investigate intersections.Results: The results show that suicidal thoughts are more common among young people who report that they were not as open as they wanted to be with their HIV status (OR 1.71 95% CI : 0.90 – 3.25). The analysis also indicate that the associations of suicide thoughts intersects with gender, sexual identity and openness with one’s HIV. In general, men had higher odds ratios of suicide thoughts if they reported not being as open as they wanted to with their HIV status, or belonging to a sexual minority, compared to heterosexual men being as open as they wanted. In women, the groups were smaller and the same pattern was not observed.

Conclusions

The findings add to previous knowledge and guide policy and practise as it point not only to the possibilities if being as open as one wants with HIV status but also to how this has different implications depending on the intersection of sex and sexual identity. The results pinpoint the need of larger studies to investigate intersections further.