Girma Woldemichael ^1*, Demian Christiansen ², Sandra Thomas ¹, Nanette Benbow ¹

¹ Chicago Department of Public Health
² Cook County Department of Public Health

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: woldemichael_girma{at}cdph.org.

	Abstract

Objectives. We examined correlations between survival and race/ethnicity, age, and gender among persons who died from AIDS-related causes.

Methods. We estimated survival among 11022 persons at 12, 36, and 60 months after diagnosis with AIDS in 1993 through 2001 and reported through 2003 to the Chicago Department of Public Health. We estimated hazard ratios (HRs) by demographic and risk characteristics.

Results. All demographic groups had higher 5-year survival rates after the introduction of highly active retroviral therapy (1996–2001) than before (1993–1995). The HR for non-Hispanic Blacks to Whites was 1.18 in 1993 to 1995 and 1.51 (P<.01) in 1996 to 2001. The HR for persons 50 years or older to those younger than 30 years was 1.63 in 1993–1995 and2.28 (P<.01) in 1996–2001. The female-to-male HR was 0.90 in 1993–1995 and 1.20 (P<.02) in 1996–2001.

Conclusions. The risk of death was higher for non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanics than for non-Hispanic Whites. Interventions are needed to increase early access to care for disadvantaged groups.

Key Words: Epidemiology, HIV/AIDS, Race/Ethnicity, Mortality, Surveillance, Drugs