10% of homosexual men diagnosed late died within a year

1 in 4 HIV-infected homosexual men in England and Wales were diagnosed late in 2001 and 10% died within a year compared to only 0.5% of those not diagnosed late - reports a recent AIDS journal article, Vol. 19 issue 5, published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins - 'No time to wait: How many HIV-infected men are diagnosed late and consequently die? (England and Wales, 1993-2002).'

Early HIV diagnosis is critical in getting highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) started, which is vital for survival and is likely to limit the spread of infection. "Our research shows that early diagnosis could have reduced the number of infected men dying within 1 year of diagnosis by 84%, and all HIV-related mortality by 22%," said author Tim Chadborn, Senior Scientist in the surveillance team at the HIV/STI Department of the HPA Centre for Infections.

Case reports for more than 14,000 newly diagnosed HIV-infected men in England and Wales (men over 15 who have had sex with men) were analysed, covering the period from Jan 1993 to Dec 2002. Almost one third were estimated to have been diagnosed late over the period. Overall, men diagnosed late were about ten times more likely to die within 1 year.

The recently published Chief Medical Officer's (CMO) annual report (2003) acknowledges the problems of late diagnosis and makes recommendations for increased testing for all men alongside awareness-raising targeted promotions. This AIDS research however quantifies the problem, presenting national trends of the estimated number and proportion of late diagnoses and consequent short-term mortality as well as risk factors for late diagnosis and short-term mortality.