With late diagnosis, early death from HIV / AIDS increased from 17% to 72%. Factors associated with delayed diagnosis are being male, heterosexual, injecting drug user or Latin American and Sub-Saharan.

Half, 50.2% to be exact, of the new HIV cases are diagnosed late. As a result, mortality and especially early-mortality in the year after diagnosis-, is higher in patients with late diagnosis. Most new cases are men (82%) infected with STDs. This is the data from a study that sets out in the V National Congress of the AIDS Study Group of the Spanish Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (SEIMC).

The paper analyzed 5,062 new HIV diagnoses registered between 2004 and 2011 in cohort of AIDS Research Network (Coris), involving 28 public schools: 27 hospitals and diagnostic center. Of these new cases, most were male (82%), sexually transmitted infection (54% of men who have sex with men and 35% heterosexuals) and Spanish (70%). 36% were diagnosed between 31 and 40 years of age and 30% over 40 years. The study clearly showed increased mortality. Visit Wikipedia page for more information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HIV

Along the track, there were 185 deaths, a mortality rate much higher in patients with late diagnosis -2.1 vs. 0.3 per 100 persons, and the most frequent cause of death was HIV/AIDS (51%), especially in patients with late diagnosis (55% vs. 18%). When analyzing early mortality, the differences are accentuated, giving 115 deaths in the year after diagnosis -5.1 vs. 0.3 per 100 persons per year, and deaths from HIV/AIDS were more frequent (72% vs. 17%).

The percentage of people with late diagnosis is very high. The factors associated with delayed diagnosis were being male, compared to a woman, to be heterosexual and injection drug users compared with homosexual be older, present a lower level of education, and be Saharan and Latin American versus being Spanish. All the experts agree on the conclusion that ‘the percentage of people with late diagnosis of their HIV infection is very high and in some population groups, remaining constant over the years’. Therefore, ‘and since it involves a high mortality, especially early and associated with AIDS’, the authors emphasize the need and importance of designing and developing the strategies to promote early diagnosis of HIV.