Describing the HIV/AIDS epidemic: using HIV case data in addition to AIDS case reporting

PURPOSE: We examined the demographic and risk characteristics of persons with HIV using traditional AIDS case reporting and the more recent system that includes HIV diagnoses without AIDS. METHODS: Using data from 25 states with HIV reporting of HIV/AIDS cases diagnosed from 1994 through 2001, we calculated percentage distributions, annual diagnosis rates, and estimated annual percent change (EAPC) for persons with HIV (all HIV diagnoses with or without AIDS) and persons with AIDS. RESULTS: The age at diagnosis of persons with all stages of HIV tended to be younger than that of the subset of persons with AIDS. Annual diagnosis rates decreased more among AIDS cases (men: EAPC, - 9.76; 95% CI, - 12.00, - 7.45; women: EAPC, - 3.40; 95% CI - 5.72, - 1.02) than for persons with HIV (men: EAPC, - 6.14; 95% CI, - 7.66, - 4.60; women: EAPC, - 2.99; 95% CI, - 4.15, - 1.82), except among women and black non-Hispanics, for whom the difference in the decreases in rates for both disease groups were small. Injection drug use was a more common mode of exposure for women with AIDS than for women with HIV. CONCLUSIONS: The epidemiology of HIV differs for certain key population groups from that of AIDS.