Epidemiological profile of AIDS in adults in the state of Bahia from 1984 to 2013

Abstract

Introduction: The Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is an infectious disease that causes extensive damage to the population. Objective: To evaluate the epidemiological profile of AIDS in adults in the state of Bahia. Methods: An exploratory and ecological study of time series was conducted with data provided by the Departamento de Informática do Sistema Único de Saúde (DATASUS) from 1984 to 2013. Results: 24,213 cases of AIDS were diagnosed in adults with informed sex. Of this total, 15,261 (63%) were male, but there was a trend of epidemic growth in the female population over time, with a decrease in the sex ratio. The number of registered cases increased from 1990 to 1995 for both sexes. As for the exposure category, a change in the patient profile was revealed during the diagnostic periods. However, there was a predominance of sexual transmission, corresponding to 53.8% (13,017) of the cases diagnosed during the whole period with reported exposure category. Of the total cases, 8,918 (36.8%) corresponded to the heterosexual transmission via. Conclusion: The demonstration of the heterosexualization and feminization phenomena of the AIDS epidemic in Bahia shows the need for controlling measures such as educational campaigns including prevention, diagnosis and assistance to stop the epidemic. It is worth mentioning the need to improve epidemiological surveillance actions due to the large number of ignored information and the need for information qualification that allows the generation of more accurate data. However, the data obtained allow us to know the profile of the epidemic and its specificity.