Resumen

Background: Immigrants represent now 30-50% of the new HIV-patients in Spain. We describe the reasons that yielded to the diagnosis of HIV infection in a cohort of immigrants. Methods: All immigrants followed up at an HIV Clinic in Madrid (Spain) between Jan-1992 and Dec-2009 were included. Qualitative variables were compared using the Fisher's test. Results: 371 immigrants, median age at HIV diagnosis: 31.7yrs, median time of stay in Spain at the moment of HIV diagnosis: 2.7yrs. Origin: 24.5% Sub-Saharan Africa, 53.1% Latin America, 8.6% the Caribbean, 5.4% Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 5.4% Central and Western Europe, 3% other regions.Most of them (88.6%) had been diagnosed in Spain. Reasons for HIV testing according to gender are shown in table 1. [...] Censoring women tested during pregnancy/delivery, we found no differences according to gender in the reason for getting tested, with the exception of STDs that were more frequent in men (prevalence ratio [PR]: 1.08; CI95%: 1.02-1.14; p=0.027). MSM got tested more frequently due to a sexual risk behavior (PR:2.5, CI95%:1.25-5.01;p=0.008) or to another STD (PR: 3.86, CI95%: 1.89-7.89; p< 0.0001),or cutaneous lesions (PR: 3.12, CI95%:1.71-5.72; p< 0.0001). Conclusions: Only 20% of male immigrants got diagnosed after seeking voluntary testing due to sexual risk behaviour while most of them got tested when they developed some kind of symptoms. Most women got tested during pregnancy/delivery. Voluntary testing amongst immigrants with sexual risk conducts must be encouraged (Resumen de los autores)