Serodiscordance predictors among couples in the HIV context: implications for health care

Abstract

Background After HIV diagnosis, people maintain, reestablish their sexual lives, or build new relationships, often with HIV seronegative partners. Therefore, understanding the factors concerning couple-vulnerability is essential in order to design effective HIV preventive strategies. We examined HIV serodiscordant couples prevalence and their associated factors from a Brazilian city. Methods This is a cross-sectional analytical study carried out with people living with HIV (PLHIV) who had an active sex life and were engagement in HIV health care follow-up. Data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire during individual interviews. We analyzed data using bivariate and multiple logistic regression analyses. Results There was 72.0% of HIV serodiscordant partnerships. Those who inconsistently used condoms (aOR: 0.3[0.13–0.7]) and/or had HIV detectable viral load (aOR: 0.29 [0.12–0.7]) were less likely to have an HIV serodiscordant sexual partner. On other hand, the lack of HIV transmission counseling by the health service (aOR: 5.08 [2.02–12.76]), or those who had a casual partner (aOR: 8.12 [1.7–38.8]) or a steady and casual one concomitantly (aOR: 24.82 [1.46–420.83]), were more likely to indicate an HIV serodiscordant partnership. Conclusion The findings showed a high prevalence of serodiscordant partnerships in PLHIV. Greater visibility among couples in the health services is needed as well as a reassessment in order to provide PLHIV and their sexual partners with care strategies, by the health professionals.

Level of HIV serodiscordance and associated factors among heterosexual couples in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…This indicated that low CD4 count show high viral load in serum which directly facilitate high transmission rate from infected individual to uninfected one. This finding is in line with different studies [ 11 , 39 – 42 ]. Another study conducted in Brazil supported this finding indicating that being HIV detectable viral load will decrease the chance of being serodiscordant [ 42 ].…”

Psychosocial support for HIV serodiscordant couples

“…These findings concur with those of a study conducted in South Africa by Madiba, Ralebona, and Lowane ( 2021 ), who posit that disclosure to family and friends about one’s HIV status is usually deliberate, selective, and often planned, where PLWHIV tend to weigh the risks and benefits associated this planned disclosure. Related to this, study findings by Antonini et al ( 2021 ) emphasise the importance of professional counselling and psycho-social support in assisting couples to cope with HIV-discordance and related disclosure.…”

Amplified HIV Transmission Risk Among People Living With HIV in Southeast Brazil

“…This was a cross-sectional study carried out in health care referral units for treatment of infectious diseases in a city in southeast Brazil. The method of this study was described previously ( Antonini et al, 2021 ; Sousa et al, 2021 ).…”

“…The sample size of the study was initially calculated to estimate the prevalence of people with active sex life living with HIV in the city ( n = 10,000), considering an expected prevalence of 62% ( Antonini et al, 2021 ; Sousa et al, 2021 ). A prevalence study with a precision estimate of 0.05 and 95% confidence interval (CI) would result in a sample size of 339 participants.…”