Background Hepatitis B and C viruses and the HIV virus share the most important forms of transmission. Infections by these viruses present a dynamic interaction, amplifying each other and leading to greater morbidity and mortality. The objective of this study is to estimate the prevalence and to describe the epidemiological profile of individuals coinfected with HIV/HBV and HIV/HCV in Brazil.

Methods AIDS cases were obtained from the “Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação” (Sinan) and the “Sistema de Controle de Exames Laboratoriais” (Siscel). Coinfection was identified through probabilistic record linkage of the AIDS cases with hepatitis viral (B and C) from Sinan’s notifications. The probabilistic records linkages were performed using the RecLink III software.

Results Between 1999 and 2010, 370,672 AIDS cases were reported, of which 3,724 (1.0%) were identified as HIV/HBV coinfections and 5,932 (1.6%) as HIV/HCV coinfections. The chance of coinfection increases with age, it is 3 times higher in aged 45 and older individuals coinfected with HBV than patients aged 24 and younger; the chance is 12 times higher among those coinfected with HCV. The chance for coinfections increases 2- to 6-fold for HBV and HCV, respectively, for the “injecting drugs users” (IDU) category compared to sexual exposure.

Conclusions The IDU category is one of the main forms of HCV and HIV transmissions, which may explain the higher chance of coinfection in this category. This study permitted an important evaluation of HBV/HIV and HCV/HIV coinfections in Brazil by the use of reported cases, without the need to conduct seroprevalence research.