International Journal of Epidemiology 2002;31:959-960
© International Epidemiological Association 2002
Special Theme: Infectious Diseases |
Commentary: The changing face of AIDS
University of Bristol, Department of Social Medicine, Canynge Hall, Whiteladies Road, Bristol BS8 2PR, UK.
| The first 10% of the full text of this article appears below. |
The paper from the CASCADE collaboration1 is a welcome addition to the growing body of evidence from observational cohort studies showing that the incidence of AIDS-defining diseases has declined dramatically since 1997 when highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) was widely introduced. The CASCADE collaboration follows patients with known date of seroconversion and therefore adjustments for duration of HIV infection can be made. The results from the present analyses give rise to several questions. Here I will focus on two issues: firstly, are estimates of disease incidence from seroprevalent cohorts comparable with those from seroincident cohorts? Secondly, what difference is there in the interpretation of a cause-specific and a competing risks model?