The cost of AIDS: an agenda for research

It is generally not appreciated how much we have learned about AIDS in the relatively short time - about 7 or 8 years - since it made its first appearance in the United States. We have learned not only its cause and its way of transmission, but we also have data, though not perfect data, on its incidence and prevalence as well as an increasing body of data on the medical care costs of persons with AIDS. There are few other diseases for which we have as much information on incidence and prevalence, and especially on costs. In addition, various models have been constructed to project the future incidence and prevalence of the disease and the medical care costs associated with it. Nevertheless, serious gaps in our knowledge remain: inadequacies of current data on the number of persons with AIDS and especially on the number of persons infected with HIV; inadequacies and limitations of the data on the medical care costs of persons with AIDS; and an almost total lack of data on the number of persons infected with HIV with symptoms and conditions other than AIDS and their medical care costs. These gaps in our knowledge will be discussed in detail, and various types of studies to fill them will be suggested.