Epidemiological characterization of the new diagnostics of human immunodeficiency virus in Chile from 2010-2019.

Abstract

Background: Chile leads the percentage increase of new HIV infections in Latin America. Aim: To characterize new diagnosis of HIV/AIDS and describe the rates evolution in the regions during the 2010-2019 period. Methods: Ecological design. The HIV/AIDS cases used were obtained from the ISP (Instituto de Salud Pública de Chile) and the population estimates from the INE (Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas). The variables studied were year, sex, age, nationality, and region. The sample was described in numbers and percentages, then, the incidence was estimated and the trend was evaluated with the Prais Winsten model. Stata V.14 and ArcGis version 10 were used for the maps. Results: 84.3% (38,863/46,125) were men. The median for age were 30 and 34 years for men and women, respectively. The incidence increased until 2018 and showed a slight decrease in 2019. The rates increased for both sexes and all ages. Unlike the national population, immigrant’s cases increased and reached 40% in 2019, with a frank increase in young adults, with a predominance for Venezuelan (35,2) and Haitian (22%) nationals. According to region, all the samples showed a rate increase with a heterogeneous distribution in statistically significant magnitude in men. Conclusions: There are changes in the epidemiology of HIV and special vulnerability in young people, women, immigrants and the elderly.