Inconsistencies in statistics of deaths from AIDS

From 1983 to 1988 there were 396 registrations of death certified as caused by immunodeficiencies including the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Detailed examination of other death registration data yields an estimate of 692 deaths in this period from AIDS and its sequelae. Over the same period, 617 notified AIDS patients are known to have died. The data sources can be reasonably closely reconciled for the years 1983 to 1987, but there is an unexplained shortfall in reporting of deaths of notified AIDS patients in 1988. A study which matches notifications and death registrations for the same individuals is needed to explain these findings, which have implications for statistics of survival times in AIDS and for estimates of the size of the epidemic.