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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Epidemiological profile of patients infected by Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)

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Introduction. The aim of the present work is to identify the principal characteristics of a sample of individuals at the moment of diagnosis of HIV infection. Material and methods. Descriptive, retrospective study, based on the hospital clinical records of 70 HIV+ patients, without AIDS, selected by means of simple aleatory sampling. Results. Transmission categories: Users of Injectable Drugs (UID) 81.4%, heterosexuals 10%, homo/bisexuals 4.3% and transfusions/plasma donors 2.9%, sex: ratio man/woman = 3.8/1, average age on diagnosis: 27.3 ± 7.0 years (UID 26.3 ± 5.1 years, heterosexuals 29.6 ± 2.1 years, homo/bisexuals 27.3 ± 3.9 and transfusions/plasma donors 51.4 ± 23.1 years (p = 0.02). Heterosexual transmission amongst women was 18.8% against 7.4% in men (2.5:1). Marital status: single in 66.7% of the cases. Working activity: 48.9% without work, outstanding amongst those with work was the relatively high proportion of HIV+ working in the building trade (29.2%). Smoking habit: 91.8% were smokers, with greater incidence amongst the UID (100%). Clinical situation: during the five years of follow up, 49% of the patients developed AIDS, with cachectic syndrome because of HIV being the first disease indicative of AIDS at the time of its appearance in the majority of the cases (36.7%) in this sample. The average interval between the date of diagnosis of HIV infection and diagnosis of AIDS was 44 months (rank: 0.9-131). Conclusions. HIV infection in our sample appears mainly in individuals who are young, male, UID, unemployed and smokers. Prevention strategies should be directed at women, at individuals with a higher risk of heterosexual transmission and at youths who are unemployed or low skilled.