%0 Journal Article %T Preval¨ºncia e vulnerabilidade ¨¤ infec£¿£¿o pelo HIV de moradores de rua em S£¿o Paulo, SP %A Grangeiro %A Alexandre %A Holcman %A M¨¢rcia Moreira %A Onaga %A Elisabete Taeko %A Alencar %A Herculano Duarte Ramos de %A Placco %A Anna Luiza Nunes %A Teixeira %A Paulo Roberto %J Revista de Sa¨²de P¨²blica %D 2012 %I Universidade de S?o Paulo %R 10.1590/S0034-89102012005000037 %X objective: to assess the prevalence and vulnerability of homeless people to hiv infection. methods: cross-sectional study conducted with a non-probabilistic sample of 1,405 homeless users of shelters in the city of s£¿o paulo, southeastern brazil, from 2006 to 2007. they were all tested for hiv and a structured questionnaire was applied. their vulnerability to hiv was determined by the frequency of condom use: those who reported using condoms only occasionally or never were considered the most vulnerable. multinomial and logistic regression models were used to estimate effect measures and 95% confidence intervals. results: there was a predominance of males (85.6%), with a mean age of 40.9 years, 72.0% had complete elementary schooling, and 71.5% were non-white. of all respondents, 15.7% reported being homosexual or bisexual and 62,0% reported having casual sex. the mean number of sexual partners in the last 12 months was 5.4. more than half (55.7%) of the respondents reported lifetime drug use, while 25.7% reported frequent use. sexually-transmitted disease was reported by 39.6% of the homeless and 38.3% reported always using condoms. the prevalence of hiv infection was 4.9% (17.4% also tested positive for syphilis) and about half of the respondents (55.4%) had access to prevention programs. higher hiv prevalence was associated with younger age (18-29 years, or = 4.0 [95%ci 1.54;10.46]); past history of sexually-transmitted disease (or = 3.3 [95%ci 1.87;5.73]); homosexual sex (or = 3.0 [95%ci 1.28;6.92]); and syphilis (or = 2.4 [95%ci 1.13;4.93]). increased vulnerability to hiv infection was associated with being female; young; homosexual sex; having few partners or a steady partner; drug and alcohol use; not having access to prevention programs and social support. conclusions: the hiv epidemic has a major impact on homeless people reflecting a cycle of exclusion, social vulnerability, and limited access to prevention. %K homeless persons %K hiv infections %K epidemiology %K risk factors %K hiv seroprevalence %K syphilis serodiagnosis %K health vulnerability %K sexually transmitted diseases %K epidemiology. %U http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S0034-89102012005000037&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en