Impact of the human immunodeficiency virus epidemic on mortality in children, United States.

To assess the effect of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic on mortality in US children younger than 15 years of age and to identify associated causes of death, the authors examined final national mortality statistics for 1988, the most recent year for which such data are available. In 1988, there were 249 deaths attributed to HIV/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in children younger than 15 years of age. Associated causes of death listed most frequently on 270 death certificates with any mention of HIV/AIDS included conditions within the AIDS surveillance case definition (30%), pneumonia (excluding Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia) (17%), septicemia (10%), and noninfectious respiratory diseases (8%). The impact of HIV/AIDS as a cause of death was most striking in the 1-through 4-year-old age group and in black and Hispanic children, particularly in the Northeast. By 1988 in New York State, HIV/AIDS was the first and second leading cause of death in Hispanic and black children 1 through 4 years of age, accounting for 15% and 16%, respectively, of all deaths in these age-race groups. With an estimated 1500 to 2000 HIV-infected children born in 1989, the impact of HIV on mortality in children will become more severe.