The Survey of Risk Factors in HIV Positive Patients Covered by Shiraz University of Medical Sciences

Unawareness of people about high risk behaviors lead in major problems in the present Iranian society. In this study, we tried to determine the prevalence of high risk behaviors among HIV positive patients. We also aimed to provide a pattern for these behaviors to help both policy makers and patients. This descriptive-analytic cross-sectional study used a census method to evaluate 1461 HIV patients that referred to the Disease Counseling Center at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences during 2003-2008. The study analyzed the information about high risk behaviors among these patients and extracted the risk factors, as well as their demographic and personal characteristics. In addition, the correlations between HIV and risk factors were determined by chi-square test and single-sample t-test at a significance level of 5%. This Study involved 1260 (86.3%) men and 201 (13.7%) women with a mean age of 41.5 ± 7.67 years. Among these patients, 78.9% had a history of imprisonment, 75.9% experienced drug injection, 45.1% had a history of sexual relationships, 32.5% tattooed outside the prison while and 24% tattooed inside the prison. Moreover, 30.2% and 4.6% had used a common razor inside and outside the prison, respectively. Hepatitis C and B and tuberculosis were found in 63.58%, 7.04% and 1.43% of the subjects, respectively. Finally, 6.57% had a history of sexually transmitted infections. Based on our findings, government and policy makers need to educate the youth on sexual relations, risks of drug injection and imprisonment, and also main health issues regarding high risk behaviors.