CDC Report Shows 10 Percent Drop In Overall HIV-Related Death Rate In 2007

"According to a preliminary report (.pdf) released on Wednesday by CDC's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), "U.S. life expectancy has risen to a new high, now standing at nearly 78 years," and "death rates in almost all the leading causes of death" have fallen, the Associated Press/Philadelphia Inquirer reports. According to the report, in 2007, there was a 10 percent drop in the overall HIV-related death rate, the biggest one year decline in HIV-related mortality since 1998. Bob Anderson, chief of the NCHS mortality statistics branch, said, "It was kind of a surprise to see it go down so much," and it is unclear whether the trend will continue (Stobbe, 8/20).

"HIV is the sixth leading cause of death among 25 to 44 year olds," New York Times' Well blog reports (Parker-Pope, 8/19). According to the report, "[a]lthough Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease was not one of the 15 leading causes of death in 2007, it is still of concern" (Xu et al., Deaths: Preliminary Death Data for 2007, 8/19)."

Read more in Kaiser Daily U.S. HIV/AIDS Report, August 20, 2009.