Migratory Movements and Its Effect on the Epidemiology and Clinical Profile of HIV Infection in Quito, Ecuador.

Abstract

Objective: Establish the effect that migration has on the epidemiology and clinical profile of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in a specialized HIV clinic of a hospital in Quito, Ecuador. Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive observational study was carried out, through a survey of 293 people living with HIV (PLWHA) between 2017 and 2019, which included sociodemographic and clinical variables that were taken from the medical records of each participant. Results: 90.4% of PLWHA were men. 74.4% reported a monthly economic income lower than the basic wave (46.8% were unemployed). 51.9% of PLWHA were from Ecuador and 39.9% of Venezuelan nationality. 39.5% of the PLWHA had a late-advanced diagnosis of the disease. And 78.2% of PLWHA had a current viral load (VL) less than 50 copies/mm³. When comparing national and foreign patients, variables with statistically significant differences were found between both groups, and no differences were found in other variables. Conclusions: In certain aspects, there are no statistical differences between Ecuadorians and Venezuelans such as sex, bisexual sexual preference, marital status, and changes in antiretroviral scheme, among others. It was found that there were higher levels of education, employment rates, and male-female ratio in the foreign population compared to the national population, where probably social dynamics are playing a key factor.