Antiretroviral prophylaxis of health care workers at two urban medical centers

We examined the influence of job category, source patient HIV status, and e xposure type as predictors of whether health care workers initiated antiret roviral prophylaxis after potential blood-borne pathogen exposures. Of 639 exposures over an 18-month period, 82 individuals (13%) elected to receive prophylaxis, of whom 66% took medications for fewer than 96 hours and: 12% completed a 4-week course. Reasons for early drug discontinuation included confirmation of source patient HN-negative serological status (65%), gastro intestinal side effects (13 %) headache (4 %), and personal decision after counseling/other input (18 %). Individuals exposed to HIV-positive source p atients were more likely to initiate prophylaxis (odds ratio [OR], 5.1; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.6 to 9.9). Licensed nurses were less likely tha n others to accept prophylaxis (OR, 0.5; 95% CI; 0.3 to 0.8), whereas physi cians and medical students were more likely to accept prophylaxis (OR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.1 to 3.3).