A profile of patients attending an Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) centre at a tertiary care hospital in South India

Background: An estimated 2.5 million Indians are currently living with HIV. In 2004, the Indian government began providing free antiretroviral therapy (ART), through ART centers. This was conducted to assess the socio-demographic and clinical profile, opportunistic infection and treatment pattern of ART center attendees. Method: This record based cross sectional study was conducted at District Government Wenlock hospital, one of the teaching hospitals attached to Kasturba Medical College Mangalore, India. The hospital caters to patients from within and the neighbouring districts. Records of 233 seropositives were analyzed for a period of six months in 2008. Results: Among 233 seropositives, 150 (64.4%) were males, 51.5% were aged 30-40 years and 58.4% were married. 50.7% of the subjects were from Dakshina Kannada district. 84.1% of the attendees had availed the services through Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centre (VCTC) and 68.7% of the study subjects were in "working" and as per the WHO staging, 51.1% were in stage 3. Tuberculosis (32.3%) and diarrhoea (21%) were the most common opportunistic infections and 54.1% of the subjects received ART regimen 3. There was significant improvement in CD4 count, bodyweight and functional status of the subjects after receiving the ART on an average for 6 months. Conclusion: The economically productive & sexually active people and those with lesser education are at higher risk of becoming seropositive. TB and diarrhoea continue to be the most common opportunistic infection. The subjects showed significant improvement after receiving ART with respect to the CD4 count and average body weight.