USE OF LOGISTIC REGRESSION IN ASSESSING RISK FACTORS OF HIV/AIDS IN NORTH CENTRAL ZONE OF NIGERIA

This article assessed risk factors of HIV reported in the National HIV/AIDS and Reproductive

Health Survey (NARHS) 2007.It was planned to determine risk factors that could be used to

predict and control the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in North Central zone of Nigeria. This was

done through the method of logistic regression.  To this end, a subset of national data from the

Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) on HIV and reproductive health were used. The risk 

factors assessed include location, education, religion, marital status, gender and age which

were eventually broken down into twenty one variables. The appropriateness of the logistic

regression models obtained was also assessed by pseudo R-squared. The variables adjudged

significant in the final model included Age 30-39, 40-49; Qu’ranic, Primary, Secondary, and

Higher education; Islam religion; currently married; and rural dweller. Of these, education was

found to be dominant factor. It was  then concluded that Education, Age, Marital Status and

Location but not Gender and Religion be used to model the control of HIV prevalence in the

North Central zone of Nigeria.