Retrospective evaluation of 128 cases infected with human immunodeficiency virus

Abstract

Objective: Altough the number of HIV-infected cases has increased over the years in Turkey, the characteristics of these cases are not known due to limited number of clinical studies. Material and Methods: A total of 128 cases in follow-up for HIV infection between January 1996 and July 2009 were retrospectively analyzed. Results: Ninety two cases were alive and 78 % of them were males. Age range was 23-67 (average 38.5) years. Durations of HIV infection and clinical follow-up were 2-186 (average 67) months and 1-120 (average 35) months, respectively. CD4+ T lymphocyte count was 10 to 1480 (average 454) cells/mm3 and plasma HIV-1 RNA level was 47-107 (average 373.000) copies/ml. When compared to the male cases, female cases were younger (80% were younger than 41 years old), less educated and most (70%) had HIV-infected partners. Only 62 % of all cases attended regular control visits. The percentage of patients with no social security and with green cards was 63 %. Seventy nine percent of the cases were heterosexuals and 9 % percent were IV drug users. History of traveling to or living in a foreign country, imprisonment and blood transfusion were present in 22%, 11% and 7% of cases, respectively. Thirty percent of cases were using prophylactic treatment for opportunistic infections and 68% of them were using anti- retroviral treatments. Candida infections (12%), tuberculosis (10.9%) and syphilis (9.8%) were the frequently detected coinfections. Nine perrcent, 43 % and 46% of the patients had evidence of past HCV, HBV and Toxoplasma infections, respectively. During the study period, 36 deaths were recorded (28.1%). Three (8%) were female and 33 (92%) were male patients. Age range was 26 to 79, average 37.4 years. The most common cause of death was infections (69.2%), and tuberculosis accounted for 26.7% of the infections. Conclusion: Chronicity, increase in the number of patients over the years and involvement of sexually active age groups show that HIV infection is an important health problem also in Turkey. © 2011 by Türkiye Klinikleri.