Factors associated with opportunistic infections among HIV/AIDS patients attending Comprehensive Care Clinic at Mbagathi District Hospital

Abstract Background HIV/AIDS continues to be a leading public health concern especially in developing countries with 35 million people living with it and 70% of them living in Sub-Saharan Africa with 2.1 million Infections occurring every year hence 5,700 new infections occurring daily. Every year, about 1.1 million children and adults die of AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) in Sub-Saharan Africa. The introduction of HAART (Highly Active Antiretroviral Treatment) has led to the decline of HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) related opportunistic infections and mortality. The need to have control over Opportunistic infections among HIV/AIDs patients is urgent. This helps to control the impact to them and affected people who surround them. Objective The main objective of this study was to establish the prevalence and factors associated with opportunistic infections amongst HIV/AIDs patients attending CCC (Comprehensive Care Clinic) at Mbagathi District Hospital. Materials and methods This cross-sectional study was conducted at MDH (Mbagathi District Hospital) CC which is an outpatient clinic serving both primary care centers a public referral center for Opportunistic infections among them HIV/AIDS patients. The study population was HIV positive patients aged 18 years and above attending the CC clinic at MDH. The sample size for the study was 196 patients. The main methods of data collection were a structured questionnaire which was administered to patients. Before the data was collected, ethical approval was sought from the KNH/UON (Kenyatta National Hospital/University of Nairobi) ethical review committee. Participants were assured of the confidentiality of their responses and were requested to give their consent by signing an informed consent form. Data collected was entered through Microsoft Access database and then cleaned and analyzed using STATA version 13. Chi-square was used to determine the various levels of association between the variables. Those factors which showed significance at 95% level of confidence were subjected to regression analysis to identify significant predictors. Results Those who were most affected with opportunistic infection were females (62.4%). By age group, those aged between 36 and 50 years were most affected (69.6%). The divorced/separated group was the most affected (75.8%). Tuberculosis was the most common type of infection affecting 41.5% of the participants. Three quarter (75%) who reported having between two and five sexual partners suffered from opportunistic infections. Age group and level of income were significantly associated with suffering from opportunistic infection (9 = 0.003 and p = 0.0001 respectively). Treatment durations were significantly associated with suffering from opportunistic infections (p = 0.041). Conclusion Females were the most affected with opportunistic infection compared to males. Furthermore, those aged between 36 and 50 years had higher infection rates. Level of education and income were also found to have a correlation with the infection with Tuberculous as the most common infection affecting mainly those with low CD4 counts.