title: Prevalence of HIV infections in hospitalised immigrants in Clinics of Infectious Diseases in Italy: a multicentric survey.
abstract: Our aim was to evaluate the prevalence of HIV infection in immigrants hospitalised in infectious disease settings in Italy during 2002. Each participating centre filled in a CRF which regarded the number of immigrants hospitalised in ordinary regime or in day-hospital during 2002 and, for HIV-positive patients only, some demographic (age, sex, origin) and clinical features (only HIV positivity or AIDS, new diagnosis or not, diagnosis of opportunistic infections). A total of 46 Infectious Diseases Units participated in the study and a total number of 2255 patients were tested for anti-HIV, irrespective of the cause of hospitalization, with 378 (16%) cases of positivity. Women accounted for 47.9%; the mean age of the population was 34.5 years. African patients showed a higher prevalence of HIV infections than subjects from other geographical areas (61.9% of all cases). Most HIV-infected patients were unaware of their positivity. In conclusion, HIV infection represents one of the main health problems among immigrants, particularly of African origin.
authors.affiliation: SIMIT, Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Committee for Immigrants Infectious Diseases Study, University of Foggia, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Scotto
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saracino
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pempinello
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: El-Hamad
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Geraci
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Palumbo
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Cibelli
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Angarano
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D004641:Emigration and Immigration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence