Risk factors for HIV infection in a gynaeco-obstetric population in Vietnam--a case-control study.
BACKGROUND
Vietnam has an emerging HIV epidemic, particularly in male drug injectors. Data on HIV infections in women in the general population, and their risk factors, are scanty.


METHODS
A case-control study was performed in a large gynaeco-obstetric hospital in Haiphong city in 1998-2001. The sample was 22000 attendees. The medical records of 58 HIV-seropositive cases were compared with 422 randomly chosen HIV-seronegative controls for potential risk factors.


RESULTS
A multivariate analysis found that HIV infection was associated with young age, past/current history of sexually transmitted infections (STI) and being unemployed. Patients aged 21-30 years were 10-fold less likely to be infected than women aged <20 years (OR 0.11, 95% CI 0.04-0.33). Women with a past/current history of STI had over 20 times the risk of those who did not (95% CI 6.7-62.3). Unemployed women had at least twice the risk of infection of any other occupational group.


CONCLUSIONS
We have identified risk factors in women that have not been highlighted previously in Vietnam. Our study suggests that all antenatal women, especially those who are young or unemployed (or, with a current/past history of STI), should be offered free HIV tests, counselling and management.
Tran
Thi Thu Ha
TT
Haiphong Children's Hospital, Haiphong, Vietnam.
Mulhall
Brian P
BP
Macaskill
Petra
P
Nguyen
Thanh Quang
TQ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000453:epidemiology; D015497:HIV-1; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012307:Risk Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D014744:Vietnam / Q000453:epidemiology; D016387:Women's Health