OBJECTIVETo understand the prevalence of informing doctors of the HIV infection status during medical care seeking and influential factors among people living with HIV/AIDS.

METHODSThe study was conducted among people living with HIV/AIDS in 7 provinces in China, including those receiving HIV test, HIV counsel and HIV infection treatment. The data were analyzed with software SAS 9.2. Chi-square test was used to compare the informing rates in patients with different characteristics. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify the influential factors.

RESULTSOf the 2 432 HIV/AIDS patients, 49.7% (716/1 442) didn't inform the doctors of their HIV infection status actively. The non-active informing rate was 51.9% (559/1 077) in males, 62.9% (212/337) in age group 18-30 years old, 58.1% (555/955) in those with a educational level >primary school, 65.7% (241/367) in those working in private/joint companies or the self employed and 62.5% (197/315) in those living in small cities. The non active informing rate was highest in those infected through sexual contact (66.3%, 275/415). Multivariate logical regression analysis indicated that those infected through illegal blood donation would like to inform of the HIV infection status actively (OR=0.083, 95% CI: 0.049-0.141) , but those working in private/joint companies or the self employed would like not to inform of the HIV infection status actively (OR=1.531, 95% CI: 1.017-2.304).

CONCLUSIONThe non active informing rate of HIV infection status was high in people living with HIV/AIDS. It is necessary to conduct the targeted health education to encourage people living with HIV/AIDS to inform of their HIV infection status actively.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome ; Adolescent ; Adult ; China ; Communicable Diseases ; Communication ; Female ; HIV Infections ; Health Behavior ; Health Education ; Humans ; Male ; Mass Screening ; Physician-Patient Relations ; Prevalence ; Sexual Behavior ; Young Adult

Biodegradable polyamines have long been studied as potential recombinant viral gene vectors. Spermine (SPE) is an endogenous tetra-amine with excellent biocompatibility yet poor gene condensation capacity. We have previously synthesized a polyspermine based on SPE and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) diacrylate (SPE-alt-PEG) for enhanced transfection performance, but the synthesized SPE-alt-PEG still lacked specificity towards cancer cells. In this study, folic acid (FA) was incorporated into SPE-alt-PEG to fabricate a targeted gene delivery vector (FA-SPE-PEG) via an acylation reaction. FA-SPE-PEG exhibited mild cytotoxicity in both cancer cells and normal cells. FA-SPE-PEG possessed higher transfection efficiency than PEI 25 K and Lipofectamine(®) 2000 in two tested cancer cell lines at functional weight ratios, and its superiority over untargeted SPE-alt-PEG was prominent in cells with overexpressed folate receptors (FRs). Moreover, in vivo delivery of green fluorescent protein (GFP) with FA-SPE-PEG resulted in highest fluorescent signal intensity of all investigated groups. FA-SPE-PEG showed remarkably enhanced specificity towards cancer cells both in vivo and in vitro due to the interaction between FA and FRs. Taken together, FA-SPE-PEG was demonstrated to be a prospective targeted gene delivery vector with high transfection capacity and excellent biocompatibility.