Comparison of AIDS in women in rural and urban Georgia

Through 1990, 308 cases of AIDS had been reported in female residents of Georgia (aged 13 years and older); 77 (25%) were white and 228 (75%) black. The mean age of the white women (43.8 years) was greater than that of the black women (34.5 years). One hundred sixty-six women were from Atlanta (metro Atl), the major metropolitan center in Georgia, and 142 (46%) from other regions of the state (other areas). Blacks represented 74% and 76% of all cases in women in metro Atl and other areas respectively. Of the 308 cases, 178 (58%) were related to intravenous (IV) drug use (99 metro Atl, 79 other areas), including 104 (58%) women who were IV drug users and 74 who were sexual partners of IV drug users. These proportions were similar in the two regions. Among cases related to IV drug use, 85 (86%) women in metro Atl and 69 (87%) women elsewhere in the state were black. The cumulative rate of AIDS in women in metro Atl (14.4/100,000) was twice that of women in the rest of the state (6.7/100,000). The rate for AIDS cases related to IV drug use in black women (27.8/100,000 population) was 19 times that in white women (1.5/100,000). The median survival of all women was significantly greater in metro Atl than in other areas (400 and 296 days respectively), with a difference also in those reported only with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (466 and 373 days respectively).