HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report, Volume 14, Number 3. Deaths among Persons with AIDS through December 2006

摘要

Through 2007, an estimated total of 1,051,875 persons in the United States and dependent areas were diagnosed with AIDS (Table 1). At the end of 2006, an estimated 446,098 persons in the United States and dependent areas were living with AIDS (Table 1). Through the end of 2006, the CDC estimated that 568,737 deaths had occurred among persons with AIDS in the United States and dependent areas (Table 2). This report describes deaths among persons with AIDS by year of death, age group, geographic area, HIV transmission category, and race/ethnicity. The data in this supplement cover deaths occurring through the end of December 2006 and reported to CDC by June 30, 2008. This was done to allow sufficient time for the deaths to be reported. Deaths among persons with AIDS can be attributable to any cause of death, not necessarily HIV-related disease. Persons with AIDS may die from causes unrelated to HIV infection (such as lung cancer or motor vehicle accidents). This report also includes death certificate data compiled by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) on the leading causes of death, including HIV disease, in the general population of residents of the United States and the District of Columbia. The number of deaths in persons with AIDS increased each year from the beginning of the epidemic in 1981 until 1995, reflecting the increase in AIDS incidence through the 1980s and early 1990s. Decreases in the number of deaths in 1996 and 1997 were considerably greater than expected if based only on the decrease in incidence. The introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in 1996 had a substantial positive effect on the survival time of persons with AIDS. Decreases over the past several years in the number of deaths among persons with AIDS are evident in all geographic and demographic groups in the United States.