Epidemiological characteristics of HIV infected Korean: Korea HIV/AIDS Cohort Study

Choi, Yunsu; Choi, Bo Youl; Kim, Soo Min; Kim, Sang Il; Kim, June; Choi, Jun Yong; Kim, Shin-Woo; Song, Joon Young; Kim, Youn Jeong; Park, Dae Won; KIM, HYO YOUL; Choi, Hee-Jung; Kee, Mee-Kyung; Shin, YoungHyun; Yoo, Myeongsu

doi:2019.0.0.e2019037

Original article

Epidemiology and Health 2019;e2019037.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4178/epih.e2019037 [Accepted] Published online Sep 3, 2019.

Epidemiological characteristics of HIV infected Korean: Korea HIV/AIDS Cohort Study

Yunsu Choi^1,2

, Bo Youl Choi^1,2

, Soo Min Kim^2,3

, June Kim⁵

, Hee-Jung Choi¹⁰

, Myeongsu Yoo¹¹

¹Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea
²Institute for Health and Society, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea
³Department of Applied Statistics, College of Business and Economic, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea
⁴Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea
⁵Department of Internal Medicine and AIDS Research Institute, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
⁶Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea
⁷Department of Internal Medicine, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
⁸Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
⁹Department of Internal Medicine, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju, Korea
¹⁰Department of Internal Medicine, Ewha Womans University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
¹¹Division of Viral Disease Research Center for Infectious Disease Research, Korea National Institute of Health, Cheongju-si, Korea

Correspondence Bo Youl Choi ,Tel: 02-2220-0662, Fax: 02-2293-0660, Email: bychoi@hanyang.ac.kr

Received: Jun 27, 2019 Accepted after revision: Sep 3, 2019

Abstract

Objectives:
In order to manage evidence-based diseases, it is important to identify the characteristics of the infected person in each country.
Method:
The Korea HIV / AIDS Cohort Study seeks to identify the epidemiological characteristics of 1,442 nationwide HIV-infected individuals (21% of HIV infected Korean in 2017) who visited 21 university hospitals nationwide. The descriptive statistics were presented using the Korean HIV / AIDS cohort data (2006-2016).
Results:
Men accounted for 93% of the total, and about 56% of all respondents said they experienced an acute infection symptom. According to the transmission route, the infection caused by sexual contact accounted for 94.4% of the total, of which 60.4% were sexually contacted with the same sex or both males and females. Participants repeatedly to decrease scores of depression and anxiety. Of the total participants, 89.1% experienced ART treatment. In the initial ART, 95.3% of the patients were treated according to the recommendation. The median value of CD4 cell count at the time of diagnosis was 229.5, and improved to 331 after initial ART. Tuberculosis and syphilis were 16.6% and 9.4%, and pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) was 26.7%. In the past history of illness, the sexually transmitted infectious disease showed the highest prevalence, followed by the prevalence of endocrine diseases. The highest reason for the termination was a loss to follow up (29.9%), and the withdrawal of consent (18.7%).
Conclusions:
Early diagnosis and antiretroviral treatment should be done at the appropriate time to prevent new infections from occurring.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS; Communicable diseases; AIDS-related opportunistic infections; HAART; cohort study