Objective  To explore influencing factors for suicide among the people living with human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS)(PLWHA) and to provide evidences for developing interventions on suicide in PLWHA.

  Methods  Totally 450 PLWHA were recruited in No.8 People′s Hospital of Guangzhou City for a cross-sectional questionnaire survey between March and June 2013. Classification tree analysis was performed to identify factors associated with suicidal ideation and suicidal attempt in the participants.

  Results  Of the 408 participants with valid information, 284 (69.6%) were male and 130 (31.9%) were female; 130 (31.9%) reported homosexual/bisexual orientation; 150 (36.8%) were identified with depression symptoms; and 134 (32.8%) reported suicidal ideation or attempt. The results of classification tree analysis revealed that significant risk factors for suicide included depression, educational level, sexual orientation, and stigma and following three groups of PLWHA were at a high risk of suicide: those with depression and higher educational level; those without depression but with homosexual orientation; without depression but with homosexual orientation and with perceived HIV-related stigma. The area under curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.763, with a significant difference from 0.5, suggesting a good fit of the established classification tree model.

  Conclusion  Main risk factors of suicide screened out among the PLWHA of the study need to be concerned to decrease suicidal mortality in the population; in addition, intervention on suicide is also needed among the PLWHA without depression symptoms.