HIV disease as a cause of death for African Americans in 1987 and 1990.

Using death certificate data for 1987 and 1988 from the National Center for Health Statistics, combined with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) surveillance data through December 1990 from the Centers for Disease Control, this article reports ranked mortality causes as a measure of the impact of the HIV epidemic within the African-American community. In 1987, while HIV/AIDS ranked 15th as a cause of death for all Americans, for African Americans the disease ranked 10th overall (third for African-American men, fifth for African-American women between 25 and 34 years of age, and ninth for African-American children ages 0 to 14). By 1990, it can be estimated that for all Americans HIV disease was the eight leading cause of death, but for African-Americans it ranked sixth overall. For African-American men between the ages of 35 and 44, HIV disease became the leading cause of death, accounting for 23.5% of all deaths. This disease was the second leading cause of death for African-American men and women between the ages of 25 and 35, and the eighth leading cause of death for African-American children ages 0 to 14. The implications of these findings are discussed.