5th International AIDS Conference Montreal, Quebec, Canada — Jun 4-9, 1989

Int Conf AIDS 1989 Jun 4-9; 5:171 (abstract no. A.563)
Kloser P, Bais P, Lynch A, Lombardo J, Kapila R; University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, USA

OBJECTIVE: To describe the epidemiology and natural history of HIV infection in women in Newark, New Jersey.

METHODS: This is a continuation of our study of women with HIV disease started in 1980. The addition of 174 new cases in 1988 makes a total of 538 women seen with HIV infection at our facility.

RESULTS: The women represent the population of the area surrounding our hospital (Newark has been described as the poorest large city in the US), with 156 (89.6%) Black, 13 (7.5%) Hispanic and 5 (2.9%) White. Their age range was 19-55 with 1 (.6%) less than 20, 42 (24.1%) aged 20-29, 106 (60.9%) aged 30-39, 21 (12.1%) aged 40-49 and 4 (2.3%) aged 50-55. Their risk for infection was IVDA in 105 (60.3%), heterosexual exposure in 37 (21.3%), unknown in 29 (16.7%) and transfusion in 3 (1.7%). Of 46 documented opportunistic infections (OI) 22 (47.8%) were PCP, 13 (28.3%) tuberculosis, 6 (13.3%) cryptococcal meningitis, 4 (8.9%) toxoplasmosis and 1 (2.2%) lymphoma. There were 25 deaths in 1988 with an average age of 34.1 years. The average length of time from diagnosis to death was 15.5 weeks with a range of 2 days to 44 weeks. (14.5 weeks - 1987).

CONCLUSION: This is the first year that the number of new cases is not much increased from the previous year (169 new cases in 1987). PCP and tuberculosis remain the most common OI. Of concern is the increased number of deaths in 1988 (20 in 1987) and the continued short time span from diagnosis to death in the inner-city woman.

890604
A563

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