Changing trends in the survival of dialysis patients with human immunodeficiency virus in the United States

HIV-infected patients with end-stage renal disease have a very high morbidity and mortality. In the last decade, survival of HIV-infected patients in the United States has remarkably improved. To determine whether similar improvement in survival has occurred in HIV-infected dialysis patients, their survival was evaluated by using the United States Renal Data System database. Survival of HIV-infected dialysis patients in the United States was determined and the influence of year of initiation of dialysis, and demographic characteristics on the survival were analyzed by the Kaplan-Meier method. The effects of above variables on survival were also examined in a Cox proportional hazards model. Identified were 6166 HIV-infected patients with end-stage renal disease who received dialysis in the United States. Eighty-nine percent of the patients were black, 7.4% white, and 3% other. From 1990 to 1999, 1-yr survival of HIV-infected patients on dialysis improved from 56 to 74%, and the annual death rates declined from 458 deaths to 240 deaths per 1000 patient-years. The hazard ratio declined significantly in patients who initiated dialysis in years 1999-2000 compared with patients who initiated dialysis less than or equal to 1990 (hazard ratio, 0.49; 95% confidence interval, 0.40 to 0.60). Survival of HIV-infected dialysis patients has remarkably improved in the United States.