Clinical Profile of HIV/AIDS in Women in a Tertiary Care Centre of District Kamrup (Metro) in Assam - An Observational Study

Abstract

BACKGROUND HIV/AIDS is a global pandemic with a national adult (15-49 yrs) prevalence of 0.22 % (NACO 2019) and females constituted around 44 % of the total estimated people living with HIV (PLHIV). HIV infection in women occurs mostly in their reproductive years which leads to transmission to the child thereby comprising the most common mode of acquiring HIV infection in children < 15 yrs. Women account for more than 70 % of the caregivers of seropositive spouses or other family members. This study was conducted to explore the reasons behind increasing HIV prevalence among adult women in the region including their demographic profile, transmission dynamics and clinical profile of HIV/AIDS. METHODS This is a hospital-based observational study among 100 selected adult female patients with HIV/AIDS (as per NACO guidelines) who attended the Gauhati Medical College Hospital from 1st July 2016 to 30th June 2017. A detailed clinical history of the selected cases was obtained in the register of the institutional ICTC centre and was recorded in standard proforma. RESULTS Out of the 100 cases included in the study, 95 were married of which 74 had seropositive husbands while 21 were discordant couples. The mean age of the study population was 31.27 ± 9.7 yrs., with the majority of women being in the age group of 21 – 30 yrs. Among the study group, 13 were illiterates while 6 were graduates. Fever was the most common presenting feature with 59 % followed by weight loss (36 %) and diarrhoea (15 %) respectively. Bacterial respiratory tract infection and oral candidiasis were present in 12 % and 11 % of patients respectively as opportunistic infections. CONCLUSIONS The majority of cases in our study were housewives and the biggest risk was through heterosexual sex with their husbands or primary partners. Only a few attended colleges in the study group while the rest were either illiterates or school dropouts and the majority of them didn’t have comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS. The large gender inequality in education and unemployment may be responsible for the spread of HIV/AIDS in women. KEY WORDS Clinical, HIV/AIDS, Women