A COMPARISON OF THE PROGRESSION RATE TO ACQUIRED-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-SYNDROME BETWEEN INTRAVENOUS-DRUG-USERS AND HOMOSEXUAL MEN

In order to study differences in progression to Acquired Immunodeficie ncy Syndrome (AIDS) between risk groups, 205 homosexual men and 185 in travenous drug users (IVDUs) were followed from diagnosed seropositivi ty for Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type-1 (HIV) for a mean period of 46 months (range 1-88 months). Seven (4%) IVDUs and 55 homosexual men (27%) were diagnosed with AIDS during the follow-up period. The probab ility of being AIDS-free four years after diagnosed HIV positivity was 0.96 for IVDUs (SE 0.02) and 0.73 (SE 0.04) for homosexual men (p < 0 .001, log rank test). When controlling for age and gender, the relativ e risk of AIDS progression for homosexual men was 9.1 (3.5-24.1, 95% c onfidence interval) as compared with IVDUs. Even when 24 months of fol low-up time without progression were added for all homosexual men, ass uming that the epidemic started two years earlier in this group, the r elative risk of progression was 5.4 (2.1-14.4, 95% confidence interval ) for homosexual men.