[Serological testing and prevalence of human immunodeficiency, hepatitis B and C viruses infections amongst acute psychiatric inpatients].

Abstract:

Background and objective: The request for serological tests for HIV, HBV and HCV is usual amongst acute psychiatric inpatients. Nevertheless, the seroprevalence and the repercussion of a positive result have been scarcely studied. Patients and method; Serological requests for these viruses were retrospectively analyzed in a sample of 332 psychiatric inpatients. Results: Serological tests were requested by 65.3% patients. The prevalence of any seropositivity was 7.3%: 1.4% were infected by HIV-I, 3.2% had been in contact with HBV but none had an active infection, and 5.1% were infected by HCV. The presence of a positive result did not change the psychiatric therapeutic approach in any case. Conclusions: The low prevalence of seropositivity suggests that such tests should be performed selectively in patients who present risk factors or atypical psychiatric symptoms.