Increasing impact of HIV infection on hospitalizations in the United States, 1983-1988

During 1983-1988, hospitalizations of patients with a diagnosis of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection increased from 1.3 to 33.7 per 100,000 persons. We used the National Hospital Discharge Survey, which is based on a representative sample of discharges from nonfederal short-stay hospitals, to describe illnesses among hospitalized patients with HIV infection. Of 222,200 such hospitalizations during 1983-1988, most occurred among persons who were 25-44 years of age (79%), white (66%), and male (90%). Among men 25-44 years of age, HIV admissions increased from 8.5 to 148.6 per 100,000 persons during 1983-1988; among black men 25-44 years of age, HIV hospitalizations increased from 43.1 to 387.4 per 100,000 persons. Among women, hospitalizations increased 3.4-fold. Frequently listed illnesses in the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) AIDS case definition were Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (30%), candidiasis (20%), and Kaposi's sarcoma (13%). Other frequently listed illnesses included infections (39%) such as pneumonia, sepsis, and urinary tract infections; blood dyscrasias (30%) such as anemia, thrombocytopenia, and agranulocytosis; metabolic (17%), gastrointestinal (16%), and respiratory disorders (12%); and drug abuse (9%). These data provide a minimum estimate of HIV hospitalizations because for some patients HIV infection may not be specified on the discharge record. HIV hospitalizations are increasing markedly and are associated with a broad spectrum of severe morbidity.