Increase in the non-HIV-related deaths among AIDS cases in the HAART era.

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the factors associated with survival and to describe the specific causes of death in a large cohort of individuals with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in the Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) era.

METHODS

Subjects over 13 years old recorded in the AIDS registry of Barcelona and diagnosed between 1997-2005 were included. Survival analysis was performed. Causes of death were classified as being HIV-related or non-HIV-related.

RESULTS

A total of 1,759 cases were analyzed, 640 (36.3%) of them died during the follow-up. The cumulative probability of survival at five years was of 64% (95% C.I. 62%-67%). The cause of death was non-HIV-related in 28.9% of the cases, among which the most frequent were cancers (20.8%) and liver diseases (18.8%).

CONCLUSION

An increase in the proportion of non-HIV-related deaths has been observed compared to that in the pre-HAART era. The case management of HIV-infected people must be re-directed to influence the risk factors associated with these increasing causes of death.