Racial-ethnic differences in all-cause and HIV mortality, Florida, 2000-2011

We compared all-cause and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) mortality in a population-based, HIV-infected cohort.

Using records of people diagnosed with HIV during 2000-2009 from the Florida Enhanced HIV-acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) Reporting System, we conducted a proportional hazards analysis for all-cause mortality and a competing risk analysis for HIV mortality through 2011 controlling for individual-level factors, neighborhood poverty, and rural-urban status and stratifying by concurrent AIDS status (AIDS within 3 months of HIV diagnosis).

Of 59,880 HIV-infected people, 32.2% had concurrent AIDS and 19.3% died. Adjusting for period of diagnosis, age group, sex, country of birth, HIV transmission mode, area-level poverty, and rural-urban status, non-Hispanic black (NHB) and Hispanic people had an elevated adjusted hazards ratio (aHR) for HIV mortality relative to non-Hispanic whites (NHB concurrent AIDS: aHR 1.34, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.23-1.47; NHB without concurrent AIDS: aHR 1.41, 95% CI 1.26-1.57; Hispanic concurrent AIDS: aHR 1.18, 95% CI 1.05-1.32; Hispanic without concurrent AIDS: aHR 1.18, 95% CI 1.03-1.36).

Considering competing causes of death, NHB and Hispanic people had a higher risk of HIV mortality even among those without concurrent AIDS, indicating a need to identify and address barriers to HIV care in these populations.