Background Brazil has a strong HIV prevention public health program since 1980s that includes continuous and free nationwide distribution of male and female condoms, rapid test triage, and educommunication strategies. Even so, the detection rate of HIV has increased, achieving 14.3/1000,000 individuals aged 15–24 years (2017). Regarding this alarming situation, we aimed to access the HIV prevalence and associate characteristics in young Brazilian adults (aged 16 to 25 years).

Methods Data from POP-Brazil Study, a cross-sectional, nationwide, multicenter study with sexually active men and women who use the public health system in Brazil were obtained. Trained primary health care professionals asked participants about sociodemographic characteristics and presence of HIV. Additionally, they invited to undergo a rapid HIV test. Those individuals that not answered the question or did not take the laboratorial test were considered missing values. The measures were weighted by population size in each capital and by sex.

Results Of 8,581 participants, 3,009 do not provided information about HIV, and 49 (1.54%, CI95% 0.83%-2.25%) reported positivity or were reagent in the rapid HIV test, without significant differences between Brazilian regions. The positivity was significantly higher in men than women (2.7% vs. 0.6%, p<0.001), as well as in non-married participants (p<0.001), those with more than two partners in the last year (p<0.009), homosexual intercourse (p<0.001) or non-vaginal sexual behavior (p<0.001). The use of condom in the first sexual intercourse was not significant different between the groups of infection.

Conclusion The high prevalence of HIV is even more concerning taking into account the high proportion of missing individuals. Association of HIV with homosexual intercourse and non-vaginal sexual behavior were more frequently in male. Despite the sustained Brazilian public health program, this particular age range need to be on the focus of prevention strategies.

Disclosure No significant relationships.