Objective: The knowledge of HIV serostatus may help the treatment and follow up of those infected people, and change the risky behaviours in those not infected. Epidemiological information from people tested can better address the activities of control and prevention of HIV infection.
Design: Collection of demographic and epidemiological information.
Participants: People voluntary tested in four alternative test settings in Catalonia.
Measurements and main results: Of 1,733 petitions of voluntary testing, 63 (3.7%) were HIV positive. Overall prevalence in men were two fold than in women (4.6% vs 2.3%). In both years of study, the mean age for women HIV positive were higher than the mean age for women with aids.
Conclusions: The results of this study confirm the age and sex pattern found for the HIV infection in other sentinel populations in Catalonia. Some measures should be taken in order to increase the accessibility of young women to the test.