The Survival Experience of Older and Younger Adults with AIDS

Older people with HIV infection die faster than younger counterparts, but it is notknown whether age-associated survival is changing over time. The authors used theCenters for Disease Control data set of adult cases of AIDS reported from January 1,1981, to December 31, 1994, to study age-associated differences in survival by yearof diagnosis. A total of 433,354 adults with AIDS were reported during this interval.Of these, 10.3% were younger than age 50. In 1983-1984, median survival for olderand younger people was 153 versus 274 days, respectively. By 1991-1992, mediansurvival had improved for both groups-396 and 731 days, respectively. However,the relative and absolute gap in survival grew. While a substantially larger proportionof older adults died within 90 days of diagnosis, the overall trend of an increasingage-associated gap in survival remained when these were excluded from the analysis.Older and younger people with AIDS have achieved prolonged survival, but theage-associated gap in survival has grown.