Differences in access to zidovudine (AZT) among symptomatic HIV-infected persons.

OBJECT

To evaluate socioeconomic factors that determine whether symptomatic HIV-infected persons are offered zidovudine (AZT).

DESIGN

Cross-sectional survey conducted as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's AIDS Health Services Program.

SETTING

Public hospital clinics and community-based AIDS organizations in nine American cities.

PATIENTS

880 HIV-seropositive outpatients interviewed between October 1988 and May 1989.

MAIN RESULTS

Males were more likely to have been offered AZT than were females (adjusted odds ratio 2.99; 95% confidence interval 1.67 to 5.36), those with insurance were more likely to have been offered AZT than were those without (adjusted odds ratio 2.00; 95% confidence interval 1.25 to 3.21), and whites more likely to have been offered AZT than were non-whites (adjusted odds ratio 1.73; 95% confidence interval 1.11 to 2.69). Intravenous drug users were less likely to have been offered AZT than were non-drug users (adjusted odds ratio 0.44; 95% confidence interval 0.28 to 0.69). Persons who had had an episode of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia were more likely to have been offered AZT than were persons who had AIDS and had not had Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (adjusted odds ratio 2.95; 95% confidence interval 1.71 to 5.11).

CONCLUSION

The authors conclude that traditionally disadvantaged groups have less access to AZT, the only antiretroviral agent demonstrated to increase survival of patients who have symptomatic HIV infection.