Pulimood SA, Cohn JA, Wright KL, Crane LR; International Conference on AIDS.

Int Conf AIDS. 1998; 12: 1031 (abstract no. 60177).

Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the utilization of health care services, clinical characteristics and survival of HIV infected persons with gender identity disorder (GID) with HIV infected controls. METHODS: Retrospective case control study. Patients with HIV infection and gender identity disorder by DSM-IV criteria seen in the HIV/AIDS program of Wayne State University (WSU) between 1993 and 1997 were the cases. 2 male and 2 female patients with HIV infection matched within 2 years of age and within 6 months of entry into care at WSU were selected as controls for each case. RESULTS: There were no differences in the race, education, employment, insurance status, prevalence of homelessness, substance abuse, mental illness or overall prevalence of sexually transmitted disease (STD) between the 15 cases and the 60 controls. Patients with GID presented to WSU with a higher rate of CDC defined AIDS (67% vs 37%, p = 0.05), and a lower CD4+ cell count (median 169 vs 319, p = 0.06) than controls. Subjects and controls were under our observation for a median of 2.4 years (range 0-8 yrs). There were no differences in the number of scheduled visits or the proportion of missed visits while under our care. GID patients and controls received anti retroviral therapy and protease inhibitor therapy at the same rate. While under our care, certain illnesses occurred more often among GID patients than controls: PCP (7 episodes vs 3 episodes, p = 0.001); HIV encephalopathy (2 vs 1, p = 0.05); and KS (1 vs 0, p = 0.05). However, there was no difference in the survival between the cases and controls by Kaplan Meier analysis or proportional hazards modeling. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with gender identity disorder present at a later stage of HIV disease than the controls suggesting a delay in access to health care. The patients with GID are similar to the controls with regards to demography, prevalence of mental illness, sexually transmitted diseases and substance abuse. Once in care, the survival experience of the GID patients was the same as for the controls with HIV infection.

Publication Types:

• Meeting Abstracts

Keywords:

• AIDS Dementia Complex
• Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
• CD4 Lymphocyte Count
• Case-Control Studies
• Female
• HIV Infections
• HIV Seropositivity
• Health Services
• Humans
• Male
• Prevalence
• Sexually Transmitted Diseases
• Substance-Related Disorders

Other ID:

• 98407227

UI: 102232128

From Meeting Abstracts