HIV prevalence in a midwestern emergency department

Abstract

To determine the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) seropositivity of patients 15 years of age and older in our emergency department. HIV status was determined anonymously, and the seroprevalence rate was calculated. The 95% confidence intervals also were calculated. Twenty demographic and predictor categorical variable were cross-tabulated with HIV status to determine associations. Only gender and male homosexual preference were significantly associated by Fisher's exact test. Excess serum samples from 454 randomly selected patients 15 years of age and older who required venipuncture for their ED evaluation were included in the study. Of the 454 serum specimens, six (1.32%) were positive for HIV. The 95% confidence interval was from 0.27% to 2.37%. All six positive patients were men. The only statistically significant risk factors associated with HIV seropositivity were male sex (P = .00112) and male homosexual preference (P = .0000). HIV seropositivity occurs in 1.32% of our ED population over the age of 15 years. The only factors that correlate with HIV seropositivity are male homosexual preference and male sex.