Prevalence of HIV infection and syphilis and related behaviors in clients in Ya'an of Sichuan province

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Objective: To understand the prevalence of HIV infection and syphilis in clients in Ya'an of Sichuan province. Methods: A survey was conducted in clients recruited through snowball method in Ya'an of Sichuan from April 2014 to December 2015. The information of the clients, including basic demography characteristics, AIDS knowledge awareness, high-risk behaviors and others, were collected through face-to-face interviews. Blood sample (5 ml) was taken from each client to test antibodies against HIV and syphilis. Statistical software SPSS 18.0 was used for data analysis. Results: Among the 708 clients, the constituent ratio of those aged ≥50 years was 51.27% (363/708), those in Han ethnic group was 99.72% (706/708), those with junior high school educational level or below was 90.11% (638/708), those who got married or cohabitated with others was 74.15% (525/708), and those who used condoms at each sex was 27.40% (194/708). Seven HIV positive cases were detected and 4 cases were aged ≥50 years. Seven syphilis cases were detected and all the cases were aged ≥50 year. No HIV-syphilis co-infection case was detected. The prevalence of HIV infection and syphilis were all 0.99% (95%CI: 0.30%-1.70%). Results from the multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the clients who had their first commercial sex behavior at age <30 years (OR=6.61, 95%CI: 1.09-40.18) would have higher HIV positive rate. Conclusion: The rate of condom use was low in the clients in Ya'an and they didn't pay enough attention to their self-protection in sexual activities. Especially the clients aged ≥50 years were with low educational level and had high risk commercial sexual behaviors for HIV infection and syphilis. Close attention needs to be paid to them.