SURVIVAL AFTER AIDS DIAGNOSIS IN A COHORT OF HEMOPHILIA PATIENTS

We studied factors affecting survival after the diagnosis of AIDS in a cohort of 1253 patients with hemophilia. The nature of the AIDS-defin ing condition was found to be as important as age at seroconversion an d CD4(+) lymphocyte level in predicting survival. A multivariate analy sis yielded estimates of median survival for groups defined by age at seroconversion (0 through 15, 16 through 69), CD4(+) lymphocyte count (<100 cells/mu l versus greater than or equal to 100 cells/mu l), and 10 AIDS-defining disease groups. Estimates of median survival after a single AIDS-defining condition ranged from 3 to 51 months, depending o n the diseases. Median survival after a second AIDS-defining condition was about 1.5- to 2.0-fold shorter than after an initial, isolated AI DS-defining condition. HN-related neurologic disease (i.e., AIDS demen tia complex or multifocal leukoencephalopathy) was a notable exception . It correlated with the shortest estimates of median survival (3 to 9 months), and this poor prognosis was no worse for patients who had a second AIDS-defining condition. The results of this analysis were cons istent in most respects with other published analyses of factors affec ting survival. These findings may be useful in the clinical care of pe rsons with AIDS and in estimating the number of persons alive who have had a particular AIDS-defining disease.