Male attendees of sexually transmitted disease clinics in Shandong province, 2015 – 2018: analysis on data from HIV/AIDS sentinel surveillance

  Objective  To examine the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in male attendees of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) clinics in Shandong province, and to provide a basis for evaluating AIDS prevention and control and developing intervention measures.

  Methods  Using the cross-sectional survey recommended by National AIDS Sentinel Surveillance Program, we conducted questionnaire surveys and detections for serum HIV, Treponema pallidum (Tp), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies among all STD attendees recruited continuously from April to June during a year from 2015 through 2018 in Shandong province.

  Results  During the 4-year period, the yearly number of attendees surveyed were 6 070, 6 107, 6 033, and 6 233, respectively. Among the attendees surveyed in each of the 4 years, the awareness rate of AIDS knowledge was 82.1%, 79.5%, 73.8%, and 84.8%; the reported proportion of having sex with female commercial sex workers (CSWs) in the latest three months was 38.4%, 39.9%, 35.0%, and 30.1%; the proportion of having sex with temporary partners in the latest three months was 29.7%, 36.3%, 29.5%, and 29.2%; the rate of having homosexual anal sex was 2.5%, 2.6%, 1.9%, and 3.0%, respectively. The annual HIV antibody positive rate among the attendees detected was 0.5%, 0.6%, 1.0%, and 1.2%, with a significant increasing trend (χ²_trend = 19.27, P < 0.001); the annual positive rate of Tp antibody was 6.1%, 6.4%, 5.8%, and 6.4% and that of HCV antibody was 0.2%, 0.2%, 0.3%, and 0.2%, respectively, without obvious changing trend in the two rates (both P > 0.05). Multivariate logistic analysis indicated that with poor knowledge about AIDS (odds ratio OR = 3.05, P = 0.042), ever having homosexual anal sex (OR = 94.21, P < 0.001), and being positive for serum Tp antibody (OR = 9.45, P < 0.001) were risk factors of HIV infection; while, not having sex with CSWs during latest 3 months (OR = 0.34, P = 0.003) and participating in HIV/AIDS-related interventions in previous one year (OR = 0.38, P = 0.002) were protective factors against HIV infection among the attendees.

  Conclusion  HIV infection rate increased but infection rate of Tp and HCV exhibited no significant changing trend among male attendees of STD clinics in Shandong province from 2015 to 2018.