Black Patients and Women with HIV Suffered Greater Years of Potential Life Lost, according to Study from ID Week

 by John Otrompke

Between 1998 and 2018, women with HIV had a higher risk of mortality and higher premature mortality than other patients, according to a study presented at this year’s Infectious Disease Week conference, which took place online and in San Diego.

The disparity held true notwithstanding generally improved outcomes that occurred across the four treatment eras of the study, according to presentation 53, “Sex and Race Disparities in Premature Mortality among People with HIV: A 21-Year Observational Cohort Study.”

Women experienced 5.5 more adjusted years of life lost, while black subjects experienced nine months more.

“There are a lot of programs for MSM in the South of the United States, so women may be more affected by HIV,” said lead author Rachael Pellegrino, MD, MPH, a physician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville and the study’s lead author.

              The findings of the 6,531-person study were concerning, noted Pellegrino, since women made up 20% of the HIV population