Comparative mortality in HIV-infected patients in Denmark, 1995-2005

Excess mortality in patients infected with HIV has decreased markedly since 1995. The source article utilized for this abstract provides a very detailed follow-up (FU) of a cohort based on all patients treated for HIV infection in Denmark during the period, January 1, 1995 to May, 2005. The FU cohort consisted of 3990 patients treated at 8 specialized clinics for HIV-infected patients incident in Denmark. The Danish Civil Registration System (CRS) provided a database for this FU study. Results are given for exposures, deaths, annual mortality and excess death rates by quinquennial age group for male (M), female (F) and M and F combined, and for groups positive or negative to Hepatitis C virus (HCV+ or HCV-). Excess mortality was estimated by matching each HIV patient to about 92 uninfected persons in the general population and obtaining their "expected" mortality rates. The experience of the total cohort was divided into three groups according to years of entry: 1995-1996, 1997-1999, and 2000-2005. There were 970 deaths observed in the HIV cohort in an exposure of 22,744 patient-years during 1995-2005. Mean annual mortality rate, q, over the observation period increased from 30 per 1000 at age 25-30 years to 93 per 1000 in the oldest age group of 65-70 years. For all ages combined, q was 47 per 1000 in males and 29 in females. In the 18% of cases that were HCV+ q was 54/1000/year, much higher than in the majority of cases who were HCV-, who had a q of 32/1000/year. The overall q for the entire cohort was 38/1000/year.