TITLE:
Epidemiological Patterns of AIDS in a Reference Center from Catanduva, São Paulo State, Brazil
AUTHORS:
Arlindo Schiesari Jr., Kátia Jaira Galisteu, Luciana Ventura Cardoso, Vanessa Maria Brogio Schiesari, Adriana Antônia da Cruz Furini, Andrea Regina Baptista Rossit, Ricardo Luiz Dantas Machado
KEYWORDS:
HIV-Infected Population; Antiretroviral Therapy Highly Active; Brazil
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Medical Microbiology,
Vol.2 No.3,
September
26,
2012
ABSTRACT: Objective: Hereby we present the epidemiological and clinical profile of HIV-infected population before and during the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) era from a tertiary care hospital in the Southeastern region of Brazil. Methods: A retrospective, cross-sectional and descriptive study was carried out, this involved the analysis of the medi-cal records of patients diagnosed with HIV-1/AIDS admitted to Hospital Escola Emílio Carlos, located in the munici-pality of Catanduva, State of S?o Paulo, Brazil. Results: In both pre-HAART and HAART periods, HIV-1 infection was more prevalent in men. Heterosexuality and secondary education were associated with AIDS in the HAART period. Statistically significant association was only observed for co-infection with HIV-1/Hepatitis C in the pre-HAART era and the number of patients with opportunistic infection (OI) was lower in the HAART period. Among all OI it is worth mentioning pulmonary pneumocystosis, which despite being common in two periods, its occurrence was considerably greater in the pre-HAART era. Concerning the distribution of OIs according to the HIV-1 viral load and serial count of T CD4+ lymphocytes, a significant association was observed. The association between the number of deaths by OIs and death in the 1st year of diagnosis in the HAART treatment was significant. Conclusions: The clinical and epidemiological profile of a specialized HIV-1/AIDS center in Catanduva, Southeastern Brazilian region, is consistent with the epidemiology of AIDS in the country.