Shift in HIV/AIDS epidemic and factors associated with false positives for HIV testing: A retrospective study from 2013 to 2018 in Xi’an, China

Background: In China, although quite a few bold programmes have been made for HIV/AIDS, the epidemic has still shown an increasing trend. Objectives: The study was aimed to investigate the characteristics of new HIV/AIDS and the major factors of false positives (FP) for HIV testing. Methods: A retrospective review was performed in a teaching hospital in Xi’an between 2013 and 2018. The overall characteristics and trends of new HIV/AIDS were described. Moreover, the major factors of FP were determined by the Pareto analysis. Results: A total of 469 new HIV/AIDS were diagnosed, with an increasing prevalence of the new HIV/AIDS from 0.0626% (41/65503) in 2013 to 0.0827% (115/139046) in 2018. Of them, the majority occurred in the males (88.50%), people aged 21-50 years (76.97%), migrants (60.98%), and sexual contact route (88.70%). There was a rapid increase in the annual number of new HIV/AIDS and increasing trends in groups of young individuals, students, and homosexual mode; however, a downward trend in the percentage of injecting drug use was also observed. Over 50 years old and patients from oncology, obstetrics, hepatobiliary surgery, nephrology, cardiology, and infectious disease constituted the major factors of FP. Conclusion: The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Xi’an is still evolving, therefore, effective strategies, appropriate education and scaling up HIV testing should be developed. In addition, old adults and specific departments were associated with FP.