LIFETIME HOSPITALIZATION PROFILES FOR SYMPTOMATIC, HIV-INFECTED PERSONS

We explored the relationship between the incidence of hospitalization and disease progression in a group of 140 symptomatic, HIV infected pa tients by linking hospitalizations to the time of diagnosis, the time of death, or both. The relationship could best be described by positiv ely skewed U-patterns or (weak) J-patterns with a high use of resource s immediately following diagnosis and preceding death. The lifetime ho spitalization profiles differed according to the type of insurance, ag e, the initial diagnosis in the CDC-IV stage and the length of surviva l. The results not only confirm general hypotheses posed by other rese arch groups, but also demonstrate the existence of variations among su bgroups of patients. The results can be used to improve economic asses sments of the impact of AIDS in The Netherlands and the European Union . The method used has the advantage of being based on a bottom-up appr oach to resource utilization, involving the use of prospective data fo r the patients' full lifespans, and can easily be applied to other are as of health services research.