Time from diagnosis of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) to death among persons with blood-borne AIDS in Italy.

The objective of the study reported here was to analyze survival time and factors associated with more rapid death among persons with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in Italy who acquired human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection through the transfusion of blood (n = 115) or blood components (n = 111). Subjects included all persons with AIDS all reported to the Italian AIDS Registry. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate both the median survival time from the date of AIDS diagnosis to the date of death and the median survival time stratified by age at diagnosis, time of diagnosis, and AIDS-indicator disease. The Cox proportional-hazard model was used to assess factors independently associated with death. The prognosis for persons with blood-borne AIDS in Italy remains poor: overall median survival time was estimated to be 9.2 months, with no significant differences between hemophiliacs and transfusion recipients (p = 0.91). The median survival time for subject > 60 years old was 6.0 months, which is a significantly shorter time than that for younger subjects (p < 0.001). Subjects diagnosed prior to 1988 had a median survival time of 8.2 months, which is a significantly shorter time than that for subjects diagnosed after 1987 (p < 0.03). Subjects neurologically affected by AIDS had a median survival time of 4.1 months, which is a significantly shorter time than that for subjects diagnosed with any other disease (p = 0.03). Such factors were independently associated with more rapid death.