Mortality rates have decreased, and the causes of death have changed.
Since the advent of potent combination antiretroviral therapy a decade ago, rates of AIDS-related morbidity and mortality have decreased dramatically. At the same time, the causes of death have changed from those traditionally associated with AIDS. To define mortality rates and causes of death in the era of potent therapy, investigators analyzed data on 6945 HIV Outpatient Study (HOPS) participants who were seen at least twice between January 1996 and December 2004 (median follow-up, 39.2 months).
As the proportion of participants on potent therapy increased from 43% in 1996 to 78% in 1999, death rates per 100 person-years declined from 7.0 to 2.0. By 2004, the proportion of participants receiving potent therapy had risen to 82%, and death r…