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.