Effect of Non–AIDS-Related Events on All-Cause Mortality in HIV-Infected Patients

Reducing overall mortality rates in HIV-infected patients will require greater emphasis on preventing and treating non–AIDS-defining conditions.

Although potent combination antiretroviral therapy has produced dramatic declines in AIDS-associated mortality, HIV-infected patients still have higher all-cause mortality than does the general population. Because standard Kaplan-Meier curves can overestimate the risk for non–AIDS-related mortality, quantifying this risk is methodologically challenging. In this study, investigators used competing-risk techniques to delineate causes of death among 5460 adults enrolled in the Johns Hopkins HIV Clinical Cohort from 1990 through 2003 (69% men; 76% black).

Information on deaths was compiled from a clinic registry and from public records. A death was characterized as AIDS-related if records documented an opportunistic infection or malignancy that …

Reviewing Author

John J.W. Fangman, MD

Effect of Non–AIDS-Related Events on All-Cause Mortality in HIV-Infected Patients

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Reviewing Author