Trends and patterns of opportunistic diseases in Danish AIDS patients 1980-1990

We analysed the AIDS-defining diseases in all 618 notified AIDS patients in Denmark by June 30, 1990, and looked for trends and associations over time. Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) was the most commonly reported disease (47%), and showed some but insignificant changes over time. The number of patients reported with Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) declined significantly from 33% in 1980-84 to 12% in 1990. KS was reported 5 times as often in homosexual men as in all other AIDS patients while esophageal candidiasis was reported in one fifth of the patients and were reported twice as often in women as in homosexual men. Wasting and HIV encephalopathy were 2.5 times more often reported in women than in homosexual men. The overall survival rate was 56% (95% confidence interval: 51-61%) at 1 year and 21% (95% confidence interval: 15-28%) at 3 years. Significantly improved survival over time was observed in patients diagnosed with PCP. Patients reported with KS had a significantly better prognosis than those with PCP. Women in general had a bad prognosis.