Objectives To investigate the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of first diagnosed human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients in a general hospital, so as to improve early recognition and diagnosis of HIV/AIDS.Methods We retrospectively analyzed the data of HIV/AIDS patients who were diagnosed for the first time and had medical records in West China Hospital of Sichuan University from January 2015 to December 2016. Epidemiological information, clinical characteristics and opportunistic infection of these patients were analyzed.Results The 1 036 HIV/AIDS patients were mainly from other regions of Sichuan Province except Chengdu. The overall ratio of male to female was 3.26∶1, and the ages of the patients were mainly between 15 and 59 years old (83.20%). In the occupational distribution, household or unemployed accounted for the largest proportion (36.39%). In terms of education level, junior high school accounted for the largest proportion (27.70%). Among marital status, married accounted for the largest proportion (52.41%). Among ethnic groups, the Han nationality accounted for the largest proportion (87.64%). The main infection route was sexual transmission (82.05%), of which heterosexual transmission accounted for 65.64% and homosexual transmission accounted for 16.41%. The clinical departments of confirmed patients had a wide range of sources, the top five of which were General Outpatient Clinic, Infection Center, Department of Emergency, Department of Dermatology & Venerology and Department of Neurology. Of the patients, 66.99% reported asymptomatic, and 33.01% had one or more symptoms. The most common symptoms were systemic symptoms such as fever, fatigue and lymphadenopathy, as well as clinical manifestations of respiratory system, nervous system and gastrointestinal system. The clinical stage of HIV/AIDS patients were mainly asymptomatic phase and AIDS phase, accounting for 98.65%. Among the HIV/AIDS patients, there were obviously more medical patients than surgical patients. The most common symptoms of the medical patients were fever, cough and expectoration, headache, fatigue and abdominal pain. The main symptoms of the surgical patients were headache, abdominal pain and lymphadenopathy. Compared with the surgical HIV/AIDS patients, the medical patients were younger (Z=−2.647, P=0.008), and the platelet counts (t=−2.110, P=0.036) and CD4⁺ T lymphocyte counts (Z=−4.639, P<0.001) were lower, the differences were statistically significant. Compared with the homosexually transmitted HIV/AIDS patients, the heterosexually transmitted patients were older (t=25.477, P<0.001), and had lower CD4⁺ T lymphocyte counts (Z=−2.779, P=0.005). And in males, the red blood cell count and hemoglobin content were lower. There were 214 patients (20.66%) with opportunistic infections, and 50 patients (4.83%) with tumors.Conclusions HIV/AIDS patients in this general hospital come from different clinic departments, and were mainly Han nationality and married men. Sexual transmission is the main transmission route. Common clinical presentations of HIV/AIDS include fever, fatigue, cough and expectoration, headache, abdominal pain and lymphadenopathy. The diagnosis and treatment of HIV/AIDS patients combined with opportunistic infections and tumors need more attention.

Citation： HUANG Xiyue, WEI Bin, WANG Tingting, LI Dongdong, TAO Chuanmin. Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of first diagnosed human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome patients in a general hospital. West China Medical Journal, 2020, 35(8): 936-942. doi: 10.7507/1002-0179.202006145 Copy

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