Abstract
Background: It is necessary to evaluate and understand the prevalence and risk factors of oral lesions (OL) in people living with HIV (PLWH) who were never studied before. The present study aimed to describe the prevalence of OL and its correlation with CD4+ T lymphocytes counts and HIV plasma viral load in PLWH treated in Rondônia. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out at Cacoal city, Rondônia state, Northern Brazil. Sociodemographic, epidemiological, immunologic and virological information of 113 PLWH were collected from medical records and dental examination was conducted to diagnose and classify OL in PLWH. Statistical analysis was performed using relative frequency distribution, ANOVA, Kruskal–Wallis, T-student and Mann-Whitney tests. Results: The overall prevalence of oral lesions was 28.3% (32/113), with candidiasis (7/32; 21.8%) and aphthous ulcer (7/32; 21.8%) being the most prevalent. There was a predominance of females, most patients being married, with a low level of education, a family income of 1 to 3 minimum wages and a single partner. An association was observed between the presence of oral lesions and a high viral load, as well as a lower occurrence of oral lesions in individuals with a higher count of CD4+ T cells. Conclusions: This study reveals a low prevalence of OL among PLWH, as well as the absence of relationship between HIV viral load, CD4+ T cells count and OL high prevalence.
Highlights
IntroductionAccording to data from the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) (UNAIDS), it is estimated that there are about 2.1 million people living with HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2019 [1]
161 people living with HIV (PLWH) were recruited for the study evaluation: all were residents of the city of Cacoal and its surroundings, but 43 were from Cacoal and 70 were from other regions of Brazil, and of these, half were from the South region (35/70; 50.0%), followed by the Southeast (22/70; 31.4%), Midwest (8/70; 11.4%) and Northeast (5/70; 7.1%) regions
The data collected in this study show similar characteristics of PLWH that were reported in the city Belém, capital of Pará, demonstrating a possible trend in the northern region, so this information related to risky behavioral characteristics in northern Brazil is important and should be investigated to inform prevention and treatment measures targeted at this population by the federal and state governments [4,5,6]
Summary
According to data from the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), it is estimated that there are about 2.1 million people living with HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2019 [1]. In Brazil, UNAIDS stipulated that in 2019, approximately 920,000 people are living with HIV, 48,000 new infections in 2019 and 14,000 people died due to complications from HIV [2]. According to the Brazilian Ministry of Health, 41,909 new cases of HIV, 37,308 cases of Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Were diagnosed and a detection rate of 17.8/100 thousand inhabitants [3]. The Northern region of Brazil has the second lowest rate of HIV infection reported, with 25,966 (7.6%) reported cases between 2007 and June 2020, in 2020 the state of Rondônia
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