de Souza AJ, et al. - Researchers planned this study to determine the factors associated with oral diseases in individuals with HIV/AIDS. They recognized that the factors associated with oral diseases in this population were the same as those associated with oral diseases in the non-HIV/AIDS population, with the exception of those factors directly related to HIV/AIDS ie, antiretroviral use time, latest viral burden dosage and latest CD4-positive T lymphocyte count.

Methods

• Researchers conducted a cross sectional study which included 312 individuals registered in the Specialized Care Services for HIV/AIDS in three municipalities of the State of Bahia: Feira de Santana, Santo Antonio de Jesus and Juazeiro, Brazil.
• Patients with HIV/AIDS infection were analyzed for socioeconomic-demographic characteristics related to life style and to dental caries, periodontitis and intra-oral mucosal lesions.
• For the statistical analysis, they used Prevalence Ratio with 95% Confidence Interval and significance level of 5%.

Results

• In this study, male individuals were mainly evaluated; mean age (± standard deviation) was 41.5 ± 11.3 years, and a mean time of HIV infection diagnosis (± standard deviation) was 5.2 ± 4.4 years.
• Researchers recognized dental caries in 78.7% of the sample, periodontitis in 25.4% and 36.2% showed intra-oral lesions.
• A statistically significant association of oral health status with the following variables was revealed: gender, age, schooling level, current occupation, family income, past and current smoking, antiretroviral use time, latest viral burden dosage, latest CD4-positive T lymphocyte count, use of complete/partial dental prosthesis, need for dental prosthesis, and use of dental floss.