OBJECTIVE

To determine the clinical characteristics of HIV infected patients in China in order to improve early recognition and diagnosis of AIDS.

METHODS

A total of 297 newly diagnosed HIV/AIDS patients were enrolled in Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH) from January 2001 to December 2012, including 19 patients of primary phase, 115 of asymptomatic phase and 163 of AIDS phase. Clinical characteristics of these patients were retrospectively analyzed.

RESULTS

Two hundred and nineteen out of 297 patients reported clinical symptoms with variety. The main systemic symptoms included fever (100 cases, 33.7%), weight loss (50 cases, 16.8%) and fatigue (38 cases, 12.8%). Organ involvement included mucocutaneous (67 cases, 22.6%), respiratory (62 cases, 20.9%), gastrointestinal (40 cases, 13.5%) systems. Patients in AIDS phase were more symptomatic. Seventy-three out of 173 (42.2%)patients have been referred by 2 healthcare providers at least before the diagnosis of HIV infection was confirmed. Initial diagnoses were made in Departments of Infectious Diseases (36.9%), Gastroenterology (16.4%), and Emergency (13.7%). Opportunistic infections accounted for most AIDS defining conditions (ADC), including pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia (PCP) (36 cases, 22.1%), cytomegalovirus infection (25 cases, 15.3%) and tuberculosis (22 cases, 13.5%). Median peripheral CD(+)4 T lymphocyte count in patients with ADC were 36 cells/µl.

CONCLUSIONS

Common clinical presentations of HIV/AIDS included fever, weight loss, diarrhea, short of breath and mucocutaneous lesions. Opportunistic infections mainly affected respiratory and gastrointestinal system, with PCP the most common one. The diagnosis of HIV infection was delayed in most cases, suggesting that more efforts are required especially in universal education of clinicians and accurate viral detection.