Objectives Recent guidelines advocate accelerated provider-initiated HIV testing by general practitioners (GPs). We aimed to identify the number of patient consultations in six general practices in the South-East of Amsterdam, and the incidence of HIV indicator conditions reported in their medical files prior to diagnosis.

Methods A cross-sectional search in an electronic general practice database. We used a case–control design to identify those conditions most associated with an HIV-positive status.

Results We included 102 HIV cases diagnosed from 2002 to 2012, and matched them with 299 controls. In the year prior to HIV diagnosis, 61.8% of cases visited their GP at least once, compared with 38.8% of controls. In the 5 years prior to HIV diagnosis, 58.8% of HIV cases had exhibited an HIV indicator condition, compared with 7.4% of controls. The most common HIV-related conditions were syphilis and gonorrhoea. The most common HIV-related symptoms were weight loss, lymphadenopathy and peripheral neuropathy. During this period, average HIV prevalence among people aged 15–59 years increased from 0.4% to 0.9%.

Conclusions This study revealed many opportunities for HIV indicator condition-guided testing in primary care. As yet, however, HIV indicator conditions are not exploited as triggers for early HIV testing.