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.