More AIDS patients die of other causes

New York's Bureau of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control report has said it is becoming less common for AIDS patients to die of causes related to the disease.

The report, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, credited drugs treating human immunodeficiency virus, the virus that causes AIDS, for the shift, WebMD reported Tuesday.

The researchers studied the cases of citizens of New York aged 13 and older known to have AIDS from 1999-2004. During that time period, 12,715 of the subjects died and more than 3,000 of those deaths were not related to AIDS. The percentage of non-AIDS-related deaths rose 33 percent over the time period, the study said.

"Although HIV-related causes accounted for most deaths, the proportion of deaths due to non-HIV-related causes increased by 33 percent and accounted for approximately one-fourth of all deaths of persons with AIDS during this period," the researchers write.

The report said the leading causes of the non-AIDS deaths were substance abuse, heart disease, and cancer.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International