Background.

The aim of the study was to describe people who demanded the HIV screening test in Andalusia (Spain).

Design.

Cross-sectional study carried out by social organisation collaborating with the Program for early diagnosis of HIV in Andalusia. Participants underwent an oral HIV test and answered a survey beforehand, from September 2013 to August 2014. The study included a descriptive analysis of data and a logistic regression in order to determine the risk factors associated with a reactive test result. We analysed variables related to: social organisation, sociodemographic characteristics, risk exposure that caused the test, previous test history, history of sexually transmitted infections (predictive variables) and test result (dependent variable).

Results.

It was possible to characterise 1,844 people (48%). They were mostly men (70%) who had sex with men (MSM) in the last 12 months (59%). The 53% had a previous HIV test and came to social organisations after an exposure to risk, especially unprotected oral sex (75%), vaginal (50%) and/or anal (38%). Twenty-three percent was foreigners. A positive result was associated to: HIV work area, male sex, MSM, unprotected sex (anal, with HIV+ person or with sex worker) and test antecedent (p<0.05). These unprotected practices and male sex were also significant in the multivariate analysis.

Conclusions.

This approach of the study made it possible to characterise a great number of people (around 50%). These results will guide improvements in the Program’s data collection and future community interventions.