title: Late diagnosis of HIV infection among prisoners.
abstract: HIV-risk populations are over-represented in prisons. It is very important to identify late HIV infection diagnosis in this setting from a public health perspective. The objectives of this study are to estimate the prevalence of late diagnosis and identify the predictive factors among inmates of two prisons in Barcelona from 2010 to 2012, and to review late diagnosis in other prisons. A cross-sectional study design was used on inmates with newly-diagnosed HIV infection. Less than 350 CD4 lymphocytes/µl was considered late diagnosis. A Medline search was performed. Of the 3,933 total inmates, 1.2% (n = 47) were diagnosed with HIV infection, 1.7% from Prison A and 0.6% from Prison B (p < 0.001). Late diagnosis occurred in 47.7% of cases. A higher number of cases with late diagnosis were found in Prison A, among the immigrant population, and among intravenous drug users (p = 0.026, p = 0.007, p = 0.03, respectively). The proportion of late diagnosis decreased from 60% in 2010, to 44.4% in 2011 and 20% in 2012 (p = 0.05). The multivariate analysis confirmed an association between late diagnosis and immigrant status (OR: 7.85; 95% CI: 1.8-34.13) and the declining prevalence (p = 0.032). This is the first study to estimate late diagnosis in a prison population. Late diagnosis occurs mainly among the immigrant inmate population. The prison can serve as an opportunity to identify and treat HIV infection among people who have little contact with health services, thus avoiding further transmission.
authors.affiliation: Healthcare Service, Men's Penitentiary Center, Barcelona, Spain. andres.marco.m@gmail.com
authors.forename: Andrés
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marco Mouriño
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gallego Castellví
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: García de Olalla
authors.forename: Neus
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Solé Zapata
authors.forename: María José
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Argüelles Fernández
authors.forename: Montserrat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Escribano Ibáñez
authors.forename: Montserrat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sánchez Roig
authors.forename: Joan Artur
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Caylà Buqueras
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D057210:Delayed Diagnosis; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D015995:Prevalence; D011329:Prisoners / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011634:Public Health; D012307:Risk Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000208:ethnology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology