Prevalence and risk factors of HIV in Faisalabad, Pakistan- A retrospective study

Background & Objective: Although the magnitude of HIV in Pakistan has been well documented, but no record of HIV prevalence in Faisalabad region exists. A retrospective study was carried out at Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) clinic, District Headquarter (DHQ) hospital, Faisalabad, Pakistan to find out the prevalence of HIV and related risk factors.

Methods: Between March, 2010 and December, 2012, a total of 31040 subjects were either interviewed or their medical records were reviewed. From those recruited by convenient sampling method, written informed consent was obtained and informed about the study protocol. Blood serum was tested for antibodies to HIV-1 and HIV-2 (Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, Western Blot).

Results: On the whole, Anti-HIV was demonstrated in 173 (0.557%) of the respondents. This gives an overall HIV prevalence of 557 per 100,000.Averaged age of the patients was 49.5 years (range: 30-45) with 85.55% male. Majority of the patients were urban dwellers (87.28%), divorced or widowed (46.82%) and uneducated (50.28%). A large proportion (78%) of the patients was injection drug users. Compared to blood donation/transfusion and sexual interactions, injection drug use was the major potential risk factor for HIV infection.

Conclusion: Most important finding was higher HIV prevalence in Faisalabad region as compared to the previous assessments at the national level. This reflects an alarming situation necessitating contextual preventive interventions. Precarious practices such as injection drug abuse, blood donation/transfusion needs to be amended and extramarital sexual contacts should be avoided.