Differential trends in mortality from AIDS in men and women in Brazil (1984-1995)

Objective: To analyse trends in AIDS mortality in men and women in Brazil, for the period 1984-1995. Design and methods: National statistics on yearly numbers of reported deaths by cause, in conjunction with census population counts and inter-censory estimates, were used to calculate age- and sex-specific AIDS mortality rates for Brazil as a whole and for Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the two largest cities in Brazil, and those most affected by the AIDS epidemic to date. Results: Numbers of reported deaths from AIDS have increased yearly in Brazil since 1984, to approximately 15 000 in 1995. The data suggest that after a very dramatic rise in mortality rates, the epidemic may have started to slow even before the introduc- tion of freely available highly-active anti-retroviral therapy, although unequally in terms of both geographical and sex distributions. Women also tended to die at relatively younger ages than men in all areas studied, and by 1995 the impact of AIDS on overall mortality was practically the same for men and women aged 25-34 years (21% in Sao Paulo). Conclusions: Trends in mortality from AIDS in Brazil reflect both the geographical expansion of the epidemic outwards from its original epicentres, and the fact that women are becoming increasingly affected by the AIDS epidemic.