Relationship between socioeconomic status and HIV infection in a rural tertiary health center

There is a scarcity of data in rural health centers in Nigeria regarding the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and HIV infection. We investigated this relationship using indicators of SES.

An analytical case-control study was conducted in the HIV clinic of a rural tertiary health center. Data collection included demographic variables, educational attainment, employment status, monthly income, marital status, and religion. HIV was diagnosed by conventional methods. Data were analyzed with the SPSS version 16 software.

A total of 115 (48.5%) HIV-negative subjects with a mean age of 35.49±7.63 years (range: 15-54 years), and 122 (51.5%) HIV-positive subjects with a mean age of 36.35±8.31 years (range: 15-53 years) were involved in the study. Participants consisted of 47 (40.9%) men and 68 (59.1%) women who were HIV negative. Those who were HIV positive consisted of 35 (28.7%) men and 87 (71.3%) women. Attainment of secondary school levels of education, and all categories of monthly income showed statistically significant relationships with HIV infection (P=0.018 and P<0.05, respectively) after analysis using a logistic regression model. Employment status did not show any significant relationship with HIV infection.

Our findings suggested that some indicators of SES are differently related to HIV infection. Prevalent HIV infections are now concentrated among those with low incomes. Urgent measures to improve HIV prevention among low income earners are necessary. Further research in this area requires multiple measures in relation to partners' SES (measured by education, employment, and income) to further define this relationship.