Melissa Marzán-Rodríguez, Diego E Zavala, Juan Carlos Orengo, Nelson Varas-Díaz, Sandra Miranda De León
HIV epidemic are still a global public health concern. In the HIV history is well documented through scientific literature, the effectivity of the antiretroviral therapies (ART). ART has dramatically improved the life expectancy of HIV. Even though, it’s necessary to monitor the causes of death of people with HIV/AIDS. The objective of this study was to estimate mortality risk in people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in Puerto Rico (PR) from 2006 through 2011. We used a population-based study from the PR AIDS Surveillance System, a total of N=2,290 deaths were reported for the study period. The Cox Proportional Hazards Regression Method was used to identify determinants of mortality. The 71% were males. The 23.5% of deaths were related to HIV/AIDS. Age and Sex adjust death rates was 4.9 deaths per 1,000 population and a fatality rate was 22.2%. The Hazard Ratio [HR] for a HIV/AIDS cause of death in intravenous drug user [IDU] was HR=1.53; 95% confidence interval [IC], 1.37, 1.70 (p<0.001); in AIDS stage HR=7.53; 95% IC, 2.42, 23.4 (p<0.001); and with CD4 cell count ≥ 500 copies HR= 0.20; 95% IC, 0.16, 0.26 (<0.001). Deaths of people with HIV/AIDS in Puerto Rico were not related to the traditional HIV/AIDS causes of death. IDU population, males, AIDS stage of the disease and with low CD4 cell count has higher risk to die to HIV/AIDS cause of death. We recommended designing specific tertiary prevention strategies for IDU population.
