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

DOI

10.2991/jegh.k.191208.001How to use a DOI?

Keywords

HIV/AIDS; epidemiology; Oman; Middle East; late HIV diagnosis

Abstract

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/mm³. 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 1984–1996]. 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.

Copyright

© 2020 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press International B.V.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - JOUR
AU  - Ali Elgalib
AU  - Samir Shah
AU  - Adil Al-Wahaibi
AU  - Zeyana Al-Habsi
AU  - Maha Al-Fouri
AU  - Richard Lau
AU  - Hanan Al-Kindi
AU  - Bader Al-Rawahi
AU  - Seif Al-Abri
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/01/30
TI  - The Epidemiology of HIV in Oman, 1984–2018: A Nationwide Study from the Middle East
JO  - Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health
SP  - 222
EP  - 229
VL  - 10
IS  - 3
SN  - 2210-6014
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/jegh.k.191208.001
DO  - 10.2991/jegh.k.191208.001
ID  - Elgalib2020
ER  -