Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1995. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The Associated Press - 20 Sep 1995
"The major lesson we've learned from this study is that HIV behaves similarly in all sorts of ethnic backgrounds and all sorts of behavioral backgrounds," said Dr. Richard E. Chaisson, associate professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, who directed the study.
The finding contradicts previous studies that suggest demographic factors such determine how well a person responds to AIDS treatment, Chaisson said.
Past research has indicated that men with AIDS live longer than infected women, low-income AIDS patients died faster than their middle- and upper-income counterparts, and non-drug users outlived drug users.
Those statistics haven't changed, but the study is evidence that assuring medical access to all demographic groups is key to combating AIDS, Chaisson said.
"It's very encouraging to find that AIDS treatment is effective and effective in all groups," Chaisson said. "But we also still have a ways to go before this is a disease that people can live with."
The study, to be published in Thursday's issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, tracked 1,372 HIV-positive patients treated at Johns Hopkins for five years. Thirty percent were women, 77 percent were black and 21 percent were white.
Researchers split the group into three categories: those who came to the hospital having been treated with AIDS-fighting drugs such as AZT, those who received such drugs for the first time at the hospital, and those who did not receive them at all, for medical reasons or because they refused them.
Ninety-nine percent of the first two groups received AZT, while the rest received other anti-viral drugs.
Thirty-one percent of patients, or 427, died during the study. Researchers reported no significant differences in survival rates along demographic lines in the three study groups. Housing status, health insurance and drug use also did not appear to affect the mortality rate, researchers said.
Regardless of demographics, the patients most likely to die were those who had AIDS symptoms at the beginning of the study and those whose immune systems were extremely weakened.
Several doctors said the study results pointed to the urgent need for better access to medical care for all people.
"AIDS is not terribly different than any other disease," said Dr. Mervyn Silverman, president of the American Foundation of AIDS Research. "And like other diseases such as cancer and heart disease, if people have access to care and get it early, it can go a long way."
Copyright 1995/The Associated Press. Reproduced with permission. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the Permissions Desk, The Associated Press, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020.
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Copyright © 1995 - Associated Press. Reproduction of this article (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the AP Permissions Desk.
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