ASSESSMENT OF DIFFERENT MODES OF TRANSMISSION OF HIV IN PATIENTS WITH HIV/AIDS

Background: HIV infection can be transmitted via a variety of ways. The objectives of this study were to determine the frequency distribution of gender, age grouping, marital status, and mode of transmission in HIV/AIDS patients. Material Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in ARV Center of DHQ Teaching Hospital, Kohat, Pakistan from 1st September 2013 to 28th February 2014. A sample of 165 cases of HIV/AIDS was enrolled through consecutive sampling. Data was collected by using close ended questionnaire. The demographic variables were gender, age grouping, and marital status while research variable was mode of transmission of HIV. Age grouping was ordinal, and the other two were nominal data. All data were analyzed for frequency, percentage, and mode through IBM SPSS V.21 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). Results: Out of 165 patients, 109(66%) were male and 56(34%) female. The modal age group was of 20-29 years with 33 male and 17 female. Out of 165 patients, 109 (66%) were married with 66 (60.55%) male and 43 (39.45%) female. The mode of transmission was commercial sex in 114 (69.09%) of the study subjects, blood transfusion in eight (4.85%), mother to child transmission in six (3.64%), Injecting Drug Use (IDU) in 13 (7.88%), unknown in 23 (13.94%) cases and surgical/ dental procedures in one (0.61%) case. The modal mode of transmission was commercial sex. Conclusion: Sexual transmission through commercial sex is the largest mode of transmission of HIV in our setup. Male are affected more than female due to risky sexual practices