PREVALENCE AND FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE NON-PERFORMANCE OF ANTI-HIV TESTING AMONG TRAVESTIS AND TRANSSEXUAL WOMEN IN THE CITY OF RECIFE

Abstract

Introduction: Transgender and transvestite women are highly vulnerable to HIV and are therefore considered key populations in the virus transmission chain. Carrying out anti-HIV  testing is an important strategy for coping with the epidemic, but high percentages of non performance of the test are still observed in the study population. Objective: To estimate the  prevalence and factors associated with non-performance of HIV testing in the last 12 months  among transvestites and transgender women in the city of Recife. Methods: Epidemiological prevalence study, with a recruitment approach using the respondent-driven sampling (RDS)method, in the city of Recife, between January and March 2017. A questionnaire was used for data collection, addressing sociodemographic, clinical and behavioral aspects. For data analysis, prevalence values were calculated using the RDS-II estimator and the association between the outcome and the independent variables was performed using Pearson's chi-square test. To quantify the strength of association between the dependent and independent variables, Odds Ratio (OR) values and their respective confidence intervals were obtained. Results: Of the total of 350 transvestites and transsexual women recruited the prevalence of not performing an anti-HIV test in the last 12 months prior to data collection was 56.7%. The factors associated  with not performing an anti-HIV test were being a woman/transsexual woman (p-value:≤0.00;  OR: 2.25; 95%CI: 1.29-3.93); not having tried to change the name in official documents (p value: ≤0.00; OR: 4.0; 95%CI: 1.92-8.33); never having been arrested (p-value: 0.00; OR: 6.1;  95%CI: 2.36-15.79) and never having taken a vaccine for hepatitis B (p-value: ≤0.00; OR: 2.17;  95% CI: 1.21-3.89). Conclusion: Innovative approaches to HIV testing that can meet the needs of the study population are needed to seek interventions focused on barriers to access to diagnosis and treatment.