Demanda de serologías y prevalencia de la infección por los virus de la inmunodeficiencia humana, hepatitis B y hepatitis C en pacientes psiquiátricos agudos hospitalizados

Abstract

The request for serological tests for HIV, HBV and HCV is usual amongst acute psychiatric inpatients. Nevertheless, the seroprevalence and the repercussion of a positive result have been scarcely studied. Serological requests for these viruses were retrospectively analyzed in a sample of 332 psychiatric inpatients. Serological tests were requested by 65.3% patients. The prevalence of any seropositivity was 7.3%: 1.4% were infected by HIV-I, 3.2% had been in contact with HBV but none had an active infection, and 5.1% were infected by HCV. The presence of a positive result did not change the psychiatric therapeutic approach in any case. The low prevalence of seropositivity suggests that such tests should be performed selectively in patients who present risk factors or atypical psychiatric symptoms.