Risk behavior and HIV seroprevalence among injecting drug users in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Dias, Paulo Roberto Telles Pires
• Data de Publicação: 1997
• Outros Autores: Bastos, Francisco Inácio Pinkusfeld Monteiro, Guydish, Joseph, Inciardi, James A., Surratt, Hilary R., Pearl, Michelle, Hearst, Norman
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da FIOCRUZ (ARCA)
• Texto Completo: https://www.arca.fiocruz.br/handle/icict/746
• topic: Aids; HIV; injecting drug use; Brazil

Objective: To characterize HIV seroprevalence and reisk behavior among injecting drug users (IDUS) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between 1990 and 1996. Design: We report data from three separate cross-sectional samples of IDUS in Rio de Janeiro: the World Health Organization (WHO) sample (n=479), the Proviva sample (n=138) and thr Brasil sample (n=110). These data provide the most comprehensive view available, to date, of this understudied population im Rio. Methods: Demographic characteristics, HIV/AIDS risk behavior and HIV seroprevalence were compared across the three samples and combined analyses were performed to determine the factors associated with injecting risk behavior, sexual risk behavior and HIV seropositivity. Results: The overal HIV seroprevalence among IDUS 25%. Two encouraging findings of the present analysis were the lower levels of needle-sharing among participants recruited in the latest years (1995-1996) andthe lower HIV serprevalence in the Proviva sample composed mainly of less educated, poorer IDUS living im deprived neighborhoods. No trends toward safer behavior were foundfor sexual risk, younger age being the principal factor associated with high risk. Conclusions: Levels of needle-sharing and sexual risk among IDUS in Rio remain high, demonstrating the urgent need to increase the limites preventive measures under-taken so far. Seroprevalence levels for HIV remain significantly lower in the most deprived sample, arguing for the fundamental importance of prompt and effective prevention strategies to keep infections rates from rising among the poorest and largest strata of Rio's IDUS.