Hospital care for patients with AIDS at "Lazzaro Spallanzani" Institute inthe last decade

We reviewed data on hospital care of HIV/AIDS patients at Lazzaro Spallazan i Institute between 1991 and 1999. The number of newly diagnosed AIDS cases increased until 1995 and decreased constantly thereafter. The proportion o f AIDS cases diagnosed at our institution over the total number of cases re ported in our region and in our country increased from 31.2 to 59.8% and fr om 3.9 to 8.7% respectively (p < 0.001). In the entire study period, 10044 out of 18434 (54.5%) of patients admitted to acute care wards were diagnose d with HIV related pathologies. The number of admission of HIV/AIDS patient s to acute-care wards increased until 1995 and remained constant thereafter . Our data suggest that a consistent need for inpatient hospital care remai ns even in the era of HAART.