Sociodemographic Correlates of HIV Discordant and Concordant Couples in Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The contribution of discordant partnerships tothe burden of HIV/AIDS is significant. An understanding of thecharacteristics of HIV- affected couples will help modify preventivestrategies. The aim of this study was to compare the HIVdiscordant and concordant partnerships for sociodemographicdeterminants in comprehensive health centers in Anambra State,Nigeria.METHODS: This was an institution based case-control study of289 (148 HIV-concordant and 141 HIV-discordant) couples,selected using multistage sampling technique. Data collection wasdone through nterview using semi-structured questionnaire, whileanalysis was performed with Statistical Package for Social Sciencesversion 22.0. Chi-square and t tests were used to identifystatistically significant associations between variables. Significancelevel was set at p value of < 0.05.RESULTS:There were more HIV-discordant positive males83(28.6%) than females 58(20.1%) (p = 0.043). The mean age (SD)of respondents was 37.8(9.8) years. Concordant couples tended tobe younger than discordant couples, with differences in mean agesof 2.41 years (p = 0.028) for males and 2.87 years (p = 0.007) forfemales. There were no significant differences in proportion ofremarriages (p = 0.625) and type of marriage (p = 0.900). Themajority of remarriages among discordant couples 15(65.2%), weredue to divorce of previous spouses (p = 0.054).CONCLUSIONS: This study found that there were more HIVpositive males than females among discordant couples; females indiscordant relationships were generally younger than theirconcordant counterparts. Concordant couples tended to be youngerthan discordant couples. Such knowledge should be factored indesigning novel couple-targeted preventive strategies.