Epidemiologic characteristics of HIV-positive patients referring to behavioral diseases consultation center in Shiraz, Iran.

backgroundAcquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was firstly reported from California and soon became a pandemic in the world. This disease poses serious threats to humans' health. In this study, we intended to examine the characteristics of HIV-positive patients who referred to the Behavioral Diseases Consultation Center (BDCC) in Shiraz, Iran.

methodsThis was a cross-sectional descriptive study. HIV-positive patients, referring toBDCC of Shiraz University of Medical Scienceswere the population under the study. The data, collected through a checklist, were encoded and entered in to the SPSS 19. Then descriptive statistics such as mean, median, standard deviation and range were used to describe the variables. Also, the relationships between the variables were tested using X2 test.

resultsThe mean and median age of the HIV-positive patients were 39 + 8.7 and 38years, respectively.Nearly327 (65.4%) of the studied population were male and 173 (34.6%) were female. With respect to marital status, 225 (45%) participants were married, 133 (27%) were single, 91 (18.2%) were divorced and 49 (9.8%) were widowed. Also, 265(53%) of the participants were infected through injection drug use, 198 (39.6%) through sexual route, 7 (1.4%) through blood and blood products, 6 (1.2%) through tattoos and 21 (4.2%) by other routes. Most of the participants had a HIV-positive history in their family, and 145 (29%) mentioned that their wives were HIV-positive. Moreover, 320 (62.7%) of the participants had a positive history of drug use, 176 (35.2%) did not have a history of drug abuse, and the status of 10 (2%) participants was not recognized.

conclusionAlthough the results of this study highlighted that injection addiction remains the major transmission route inIran, the role of sexual transmission should be acknowledged in the future.