Study hypothesis: To determine the prevalence of antibody to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in trauma and nontrauma patients not identified as having known HIV infection in a noninner-city university teaching hospital emergency department, and to determine the frequency with which treating emergency physicians are knowledgeable of patients' risk factors for HIV infection.
Population: ED patients between 18 and 59 years old with injuries that met trauma center triage criteria or with nontrauma-related illness who had blood drawn for physician-requested laboratory tests and for whom an extra aliquot of blood was available for HIV antibody testing.
Methods: All serum samples were first tested for antibody to HIV by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. If positive, the specimen was retested. All repeatedly reactive specimens were analyzed by Western blot test. The treating physician completed a questionnaire regarding the patient's illness and risk factors for HIV infection after the patient's care was completed.
Results: Two of 100 major trauma patients (confidence interval, 0% to 5%) and seven of 100 nontrauma patients (confidence interval, 2% to 12%) had antibody to HIV. The seropositive rate by age and clinical group varied from 0% to 12.5%, with the highest rates in the 30- to 39-year-old group of nontrauma patients. The difference in proportions of seropositivity between the sexes was not statistically significant. Physicians obtained information regarding homosexual or bisexual behavior, IV drug use, and hemophilia from 52% of the nontrauma patients and only 17% of trauma patients. None of 30 trauma patients for whom data were available and only two of the 100 nontrauma patients gave a history of any high-risk behavior.
Conclusion: Although the sampling technique we used has limitations, the prevalence of HIV infection in our noninner-city ED is similar to that recently reported from inner-city EDs. This is in contrast to previous reports of low rates of HIV infection among ED patients in nonurban settings. Physician assessment of risk factors was incomplete in the majority of our patients. Patients rarely acknowledged any high-risk behavior. It is essential that emergency health care workers take maximum diligence to prevent exposure to blood and other body fluids from all ED patients.