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The Archives of Internal Medicine
recently published an article on what is thought to be the first analysis of
its kind— researchers assessed HIV mortality rates among different racial and
ethnic groups, including their level of education and gender. The authors
analyzed records of more than 91,000 HIV-related deaths among adults between
the years of 1993 and 1997. The study concluded that even though the extensive
usage of multidrug treatments has greatly reduced HIV-related deaths, mortality
rates remain disproportionately high for African Americans, particularly those
with limited education, and HIV death rates were significantly elevated among
blacks, compared to whites, within every category.
Findings covered the following: For
males with the highest education levels, mortality rates per 100,000 population
decreased from 118 to 15 for blacks and from 26 to 2 for whites. The mortality
rate for black women with low education remained steady at 27 per 100,000. The
authors of the study suggested that black men and low-income black and Latino
women faced greater risks due to lack of knowledge about their own testing
status, HIV prevention, social stigma, and marginalization, and a lack of
accessibility to healthcare. The use of highly active antiretroviral therapy
(HAART) for HIV has caused HIV mortality rates to drop significantly for all
groups since 1996, except black women with 12 or fewer years of education.
“These findings suggest the need for
focused interventions and resources to facilitate the identification of
high-risk individuals, as well as entry and retention into care for these most
vulnerable groups affected by the HIV epidemic in the United States,” the
authors wrote.
The Influence of Sex,
Race/Ethnicity, and Educational Attainment on Human Immunodeficiency Virus
Death Rates Among Adults, 1993-2007, Edgar P. Simard, PhD, MPH; Mesfin Fransua,
MD; Deepa Naishadham, MA, MS; Ahmedin Jemal, DVM, PhD. Arch Intern Med.
2012;():1-8. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2012.4508. Published online October
2012.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
