016619: HIV in the North-East - a study of new diagnoses between 2018-2023
Source: gov.uk (2025-08-26)

This research will analyse UKHSA data about who is being diagnosed with Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the North East of England and what factors may contribute to late diagnosis.

About the project:

What the project aims to do

This research aims to understand who is being diagnosed with Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the North East of England and what factors may contribute to late diagnosis.

It will:

examine how demographics such as age, ethnicity and gender identity affect rates and timings of new diagnoses

explore socioeconomic inequalities in HIV diagnoses by using the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD: an official measure used in the UK to assess levels of deprivation in different areas) and deprivation rank data (an indicator how deprived an area is compared to other areas in the UK)

examine the effect of geography on the diagnostic experience, paying particular attention to the relationship between rurality and late diagnosis or time to treatment

Explore the effect of migration on regional HIV incidence by looking at country of infection data

This project also seeks to understand the effect COVID-19 has had on the late diagnosis of HIV in the region.

Why this project is important

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a virus that weakens your immune system and increases your risk of serious illness. Anyone can get HIV but people from some groups or parts of the world are more likely to be affected.

In the UK, all four nations have committed to the goal of ending new HIV transmissions by 2030. However, to achieve this goal, it’s important to understand who is being diagnosed with HIV, so testing can be targeted in the right places.

Recent analysis by UKHSA shows London continues to have the highest rates of HIV in England, but in 2023 increases were concentrated outside of London.

This project will be one of the first to provide a detailed report of who is being diagnosed with HIV in the North East of England.

Who the data is about

The data covers all individuals diagnosed with HIV between 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2023 who were living in the North East of England or were diagnosed in a North East of England clinic, regardless of age, sex, ethnicity.

The “North East” is defined as 12 local authorities:
- Darlington
- Durham
- Gateshead
- Hartlepool
- Middlesbrough
- Newcastle-upon-Tyne
- Northumberland
- North Tyneside
- Redcar and Cleveland
- South Tyneside
- Stockton
- Sunderland
How the data will be used

To answer the research aims and objectives, Newcastle University will use HIV surveillance recorded in the HIV and AIDS Reporting System (https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/information-standards/governance/latest-activity/standards-and-collections/scci1570-hiv-and-aids-reporting-system-hars/) (HARS) that has had all directly identifiable data removed.

They will analyse this data using specialised statistical software (Stata) on a UKHSA-managed laptop.

Their analysis will explore whether factors such as sex, age, ethnicity and location in the North East influence overall HIV rates and the likelihood of late diagnosis. This will help answer important questions about who is affected by HIV in the North East.

They will compare the results to information available at a national level that is reported by UKHSA.

How often data is needed

One off release

How this project will benefit public health and the public

Understanding HIV at the regional level will help inform public health actions required to achieve the 2030 HIV goals, such as targeted testing or changes in funding. As well as exposing any potential health inequalities because of age, location, gender, ethnicity or IMD, which could be used to inform local policy.

Planned project outputs and communication

The planned project outputs are:
- peer reviewed scientific journals
- conference presentation
- other – Master of Public Health dissertation
- other – the findings will be communicated back to BlueSky Trust, a HIV charity in Newcastle who supported the Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) aspect of this project
Lawful processing of personal and special category personal data

The data needed for this project is not personal data.

Legal basis for using personal data (Article 6):

Not applicable.

Legal basis for using special category personal data (Article 9):

Not applicable.

Common law duty of confidentiality

The data needed for this project is not confidential patient information.

How is the duty of confidentiality set aside:

Not applicable

National Data Opt-Out

Will opt-out preferences be applied?

No

Where “No”, why:

The National Data Opt-Out does not apply to anonymised data.

Digital Object Identifier:

Not available at time of approval.

Organisatons Research Organisation Registry (ROR) ID:

[ROR ID] (https://ror.org/01kj2bm70)