[The epidemiology of AIDS in Amsterdam, 1982-1988]

The results are reported of AIDS monitoring in Amsterdam in the period 1982-1988. Males with homosexual contacts are the principal risk group followed by the fast-growing group of users of intravenous drugs. Transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus to the heterosexual population will occur mostly via sexual contacts with users of drugs. An investigation of the degree of underreporting in Amsterdam revealed 23 unreported patients (5.7% of the cumulative total). The median duration of survival of AIDS patients increased: 1982-1985, 9 months, 1986, 12 months, 1987, 16 months. Two-year survival of patients in the periods 1986 and 1987 was practically the same, however. It is assumed that at the end of 1991, 1124 AIDS patients domiciled in Amsterdam will have been diagnosed.