Epidemiological characteristics of HIV infection among college students in Nanjing, China: a cross-sectional survey

Objective This study aimed to investigate the epidemiological characteristics and HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes and practice (KAP) among HIV-positive college students. Design A cross-sectional study. Setting Five districts of Nanjing, China. Participants A total of 156 college students with newly diagnosed HIV infection between September 2015 and July 2017. Main outcome measures Social-demographic characteristics, mode of HIV acquisition, infection of sexually transmitted diseases, risky sexual behaviours and HIV/AIDS-related KAP were collected by a face-to-face questionnaire administered by trained interviewers. Results About 98.7% (154/156) of HIV-positive college students in our study were men, and 96.1% (148/154) of them were infected by sexual intercourse with men. More than half (52.5%, 82/156) of participants were freshmen or sophomores. Nearly 30% (44/154) of male students did not realise the severe status of the HIV/AIDS epidemic among students who are men who have sex with men (MSM). More than four-fifths of male students did not know if their male regular (83.0%, 93/112) or casual (95.9%, 94/98) sexual partners were HIV-positive, while less than half of them had high-risk perceptions towards HIV infection from male regular and occasional sexual partners. Approximately one-half and four-fifths of male students had more than two regular (54.5%, 61/112) and occasional (79.6%, 78/98) partners during lifetime, respectively. However, only 62.5% (70/112) and 66.3% (65/98) of male students used condoms consistently during sexual intercourse with regular and casual partners, respectively. Geosocial networking apps have become the most dominant way for male students to seek sexual partners. Conclusions This study reported a low level of HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, a high level of exposure to risky sexual behaviours and some valuable epidemiological characteristics among HIV-positive college students, which highlighted the importance of carrying out HIV/AIDS prevention education and risk warning education early and timely towards college students on campus.