Sex and Racial/Ethnic Differences in Premature Mortality Due to HIV: Florida, 2000-2009

This study aimed to characterize premature mortality among people diagnosed with HIV infection from 2000 to 2009 in Florida, by sex and race/ethnicity, to estimate differences in premature mortality that could be prevented by linkage to HIV care and treatment.

Among 41,565 people diagnosed with HIV infection during the study period, 5,249 died, and 2,563 (48.8%) deaths were due to HIV/AIDS. Age-standardized YPLL (aYPLL) due to HIV/AIDS per 1,000 person-years was significantly higher for females than males; for non-Hispanic black (NHB) females than non-Hispanic white (NHW) and Hispanic females; and for NHB males compared with NHW and Hispanic males. In multilevel modeling controlling for individual factors, NHB race was associated with YPLL due to HIV/AIDS for women (p=0.04) and men (p<0.001).

Among people diagnosed with HIV infection, females and NHB people had a disproportionately high premature mortality from HIV/AIDS, suggesting the need for enhanced efforts to improve linkage to and retention in care and medication adherence for these groups.

Via: http://ht.ly/S3e9J 

By: Trepka MJ1, Niyonsenga T2, Fennie KP1, McKelvey K1, Lieb S3, Maddox LM4.

• 1Florida International University, Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work, Department of Epidemiology, Miami, FL.
• 2University of South Australia, School of Population Health, Adelaide, South Australia.
• 3Florida Consortium for HIV/AIDS Research/The AIDS Institute, Tampa, FL.
• 4Florida Department of Health, HIV/AIDS Section, Tallahassee, FL.