Mortality from AIDS

As of June 9, 1986, 11,713 people died in the U.S. from AIDS, representing 54% of all known cases.

The case fatality rate is over 75% for persons diagnosed with AIDS for years or more.

In a follow-up of about three,600 cases of AIDS in New York City and State, the median survival time for gay men was ten months and for IV drug abusers 7 months.

The median survival of those AIDS patients with Kaposi's sarcoma was 14 months, those with Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia was 7 months and those with other opportunistic infections was 6 months.

Since about 90% of AIDS patients are between 20-49 years elderly, AIDS leads to a disproportionate number of years of potential life lost (YPLL) before age 65. In single men ages 25-44 years in the U.S., AIDS caused  as lots of YPLL in 1984 (32,300) as did cancer (39,500) in 1980. In Manhattan and San Francisco in 1984, AIDS was the leading cause of YPLL among 25-44 year-old men with more YPLL than for accidents, murder, suicide, and cancer combined.