Temporal trends in AIDS-related survival

Although research indicates that AIDS-related survival has improved over ca lendar time, studies of temporal AIDS-related survival patterns are often c onfounded by the stage of AIDS diagnosis. The objective of the present stud y was therefore to assess temporal trends in AIDS-related survival from cli nical indicators other than point of AIDS diagnosis. The study sample consi sted of 2126 adult HIV-positive patients who were treated between 1987 and 1996 at a large southwestern academic medical center. Proportional hazards analyses indicate that survival from each of the following clinical baselin es improved in a linear fashion over calendar period: first CD4 count, firs t CD4 count of 200 or greater, first CD4 count less than 200, and diagnosis of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, cytomegalovirus, and Mycobacterium aviu m complex. These findings indicate that previously estimated survival traje ctories have persisted through the mid-1990s, even when defining survival f rom clinical indicators other than AIDS diagnosis.