Differential human immunodeficiency virus risk factors among female general nurses, nurse midwives and office workers/teachers in Zambia
Siziya, S.; Hakim, J.G.
Central African Journal of Medicine 42(4): 114-117
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 0008-9176 PMID: 8791868 Document Number: 303671
Objectives: To determine whether the factors associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection are the same among the general nurses, nurse midwives and office workers/teachers. Design: Cross sectional. Setting: Schools, offices and hospitals. Subjects: A total of 370 consenting females from each of the study groups. Main outcome measures: HIV seropositivity, medical and behavioural risk factors for HIV infection. Results: HIV seropositive general nurses were more likely to report a history of sexually transmitted disease since 1980 (OR 5,17; 95pc CI 1,60 to 15,05), particularly genital ulcer (OR 3,59; 95pc CI 1,30 to 10,85), and they were also more likely to have more sexual partners (OR 4,08; 95pc CI 1,54 to 13,11). HIV seropositive nurse midwives were more likely to have had a blood transfusion (OR 2,17; 95pc CI 1,13 to 4,14), and HIV seropositive office workers/teachers were more likely to have scarification (OR 1,66; 95pc CI 1,07 to 2,57). Conclusions: Our findings support the importance of genital ulcers, blood transfusion and scarification as risk factors for HIV intervention studies should be specifically targeted to the sector of the population under study.