A Study of Prevalence and Risk Factors of HIV Infection among Male Prisoners in Chiang Mai Province, 2021

Abstract

Prisoners were a high-risk group for HIV infection. As a result, HIV testing services had provided to inmates by a health care organization in Chiang Mai. However, there was a lack of systematic use of the data obtained from these operations to analyze factors related to HIV infection. The purposes of this cross-sectional descriptive study were to determine HIV prevalence and risk factors that associated with HIV infection among male prisoners in the province who volunteered to have tested. The method of data collection was carried out by a retrospective review the secondary records of personal behaviors from the Bureau of AIDS, TB and STIs concerning to population characteristics, risk factors, and HIV infection. Analyses of the data were to perform the descriptive statistics. Odds ratio was analyzed to demonstrate relationships between risk factors and HIV infections. There were 775 male prisoners participated in this study. The results revealed HIV prevalence of the inmates was 1.42%. There were 3 risk ratio factors, which were significantly associated with HIV infection including homosexual (gays and transgender persons) vs heterosexuals with OR=16.85 (95%CI=4.91-57.83), experienced from suffering sexual transmitted diseases vs non-experienced OR=15.64 (95%CI=1.99-122.79), and exposed to anal sexual intercourse vs non-exposed OR=4.49 (95%CI=1.35-14.91). The results clearly showed an existence of HIV infection among the inmates was related to sexual behaviors, and then we should develop a screening system and provide a preventive program and care services for who are risky of the disease.