S. Blum et al., TRENDS IN SURVIVAL AMONG PERSONS WITH ACQUIRED-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-SYNDROME IN NEW-YORK-CITY - THE EXPERIENCE OF THE FIRST DECADE OF THE EPIDEMIC, American journal of epidemiology, 139(4), 1994, pp. 351-361
This study examined survival trends among the 23,324 cases of acquired
immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) meeting the Centers for Disease Cont
rol (CDC) definition that were diagnosed and reported to the New York
City Department of health from the beginning of the epidemic in 1980 t
hrough June 1989. The survival patterns of 20,760 individuals who surv
ived for at least 1 calendar month beyond diagnosis were analyzed; all
survival analyses were truncated at December 1, 1990, 17 months after
the last diagnosis. Persons who died during the same month in which t
hey were diagnosed (''zero'' survivors) were excluded. Cases were exam
ined by race/ethnicity, sex, age at diagnosis, calendar period of diag
nosis, transmission category, CDC AIDS case definition (prior to and a
fter the 1987 change in the AIDS case definition), and nature of diagn
osis. Results of two- and three-way categorical analysis and logistic
regression analysis are reported. Overall median survival time was 13.
7 months (14.0 for males and 12.0 for females). Survival was better fo
r whites than for blacks and Hispanics and was better for men who had
sex with men than for injecting drug users. Each of the seven demograp
hic and risk behavior factors was independently associated with surviv
al. Trends in survival during three time periods indicated that surviv
al is improving among all groups examined.