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The Epidemiology of HIV in Oman, 1984–2018: A Nationwide Study from the Middle East

2020; Elsevier BV; Volume: 10; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2991/jegh.k.191208.001

2210-6014

Ali Elgalib, Samir Shah, Adil Al Wahaibi, Zeyana Al-Habsi, Maha Al-Fouri, Richard Lau, Hanan Al-Kindi, Bader Al-Rawahi, Seif Al-Abri,

Sex work and related issues

We used population-based data on all diagnosed people living with Human Immunodeficiency (HIV) reported to the National AIDS Programme in 1984-2018 to describe the HIV epidemiology in Oman.A total of 3060 Omanis were diagnosed with HIV from 1984 to 2018.The proportions of new infections attributed to sexual contact accounted for 56.3% (376/668) in 1984-1996 compared with 80.7% (630/780) in 2013-2018.Of 1417 patients with a documented CD4 count at the entry of care, 45.3% had a baseline CD4 count of <200 cells/mm 3 .Compared with heterosexuals, homosexuals had higher rates of advanced HIV disease [42.7% (388/908) vs 50.4% (136/270), respectively].Rates of advanced disease and death within a year of HIV diagnosis rose consistently with age at diagnosis.Approximately half (48.8%) of the patients diagnosed in 1984-2018 had died by December 2018.The majority (85.6%; 572/668) of people who were diagnosed in 1984-1997 had died compared with 12.7% (99/780) of those diagnosed in 2013-2018.However, people died more recently had a higher proportion of death within a year of HIV diagnosis [74.7% (74/99) in 2013-2018 compared with 13.8% (79/572) in [1984][1985][1986][1987][1988][1989][1990][1991][1992][1993][1994][1995][1996].This study shows that the HIV epidemic in Oman is a low-prevalence one.Of concern, a large proportion of new HIV diagnoses continued to present late, which has resulted in a substantial increase in short-term mortality over the past 20 years.Nevertheless, we observed a remarkable decline in overall mortality over time, which may be explained by the improvement in the quality of HIV care in Oman.