[Causes of death among patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome autopsied at the Tropical Medicine Foundation of Amazonas].
The aim of this study was to investigate the causes of death among 129 AIDS patients that were autopsied at the Tropical Medicine Foundation of Amazonas between 1996 and 2003. The degree of concordance between the autopsy diagnoses and the clinical diagnoses was observed. The disease that most frequently caused death was tuberculosis (28%), followed by bacterial pneumonia (17%), histoplasmosis (13%), toxoplasmosis (10%), pneumocystosis (8%), cryptococcosis (5%), bacterial sepsis (4%) and other causes (15%). The concordance between the clinical diagnosis before death and the autopsy was 51.9%. The main organ involved was the lungs (82.2%). The length of survival from the time of the laboratory diagnosis to death ranged from one month to 120 months. The mean length of survival was 15 days and 56% died less than one month after the diagnosis, while 15 patients died on the same day that they were diagnosed. These results show the importance of autopsies in elucidating the causes of death among AIDS patients.
Souza
Sílvia Leopoldina Santos de
SL
Fundação de Medicina Tropical do Amazonas, Manaus, AM, Brazil.
Feitoza
Pablo Vinícius Silveira
PV
Araújo
José Ribamar de
JR
Andrade
Rosilene Viana de
RV
Ferreira
Luiz Carlos de Lima
LC
D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000401:mortality*; D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000401:mortality*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001344:Autopsy; D002423:Cause of Death; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors