Correspondence

Reported Cases of AIDS: An Update

N Engl J Med 1993; 329:511August 12, 1993

Article

To the Editor:

In 1991, a colleague and I summarized data on cases of AIDS reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 1989 and 1990.1 This letter updates recent trends in AIDS cases in the United States by comparing end-of-the-year data for the years 1989 through 1992, using cases reported in each year, whether they were diagnosed during that year or earlier. Although the increase in the number of cases is slowing, the distribution of patients among the various categories of exposure to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is shifting.

Table 1Table 1Cases of AIDS Reported in the United States from 1989 through 1992, According to Sex and Exposure Category. shows the number of cases reported each year according to sex and exposure category. Homosexual or bisexual men, including those who also injected drugs, accounted for the majority of all cases each year (62 percent in 1989 and 56 percent in 1992). Heterosexuals who used injection drugs remained the second-largest group (23 percent in 1989 and 24 percent in 1992). The fastest-growing categories of cases involved heterosexual contact. These cases increased by 108 percent in women and 114 percent in men between 1989 and 1992, as compared with increases of 21 percent in homosexual or bisexual men and 43 percent in heterosexuals who used injection drugs (P<0.001). The annual number of AIDS cases in transfusion recipients decreased over this period. With the recent change in the CDC case definition of AIDS, it will be more difficult to decipher trends in the AIDS epidemic in the United States.

Harry W. Haverkos, M.D.
National Institute on Drug Abuse, Rockville, MD 20857

1 References

1. 1

   Steel E, Haverkos HW. Increasing incidence of reported cases of AIDS. N Engl J Med 1991;325:65-66
   Full Text | Web of Science | Medline

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   S D Holmberg. (1996) The estimated prevalence and incidence of HIV in 96 large US metropolitan areas.. American Journal of Public Health 86:5, 642-654
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