Socio-economic differences in HIV/AIDS mortality in South Africa.
To quantify socio-economic differences in the risk of HIV/AIDS mortality in South Africa for different measures of socio-economic status.



Systematic literature search in Web of Knowledge and PubMed. Measures of relative risk (RR) were pooled separately for education, income, assets score and employment status as measures of socio-economic status, using inverse-variance weighted DerSimonian-Laird random effects meta-analyses.



Ten studies were eligible for inclusion comprising over 175 000 participants and 6700 deaths. For income (RR 1.55, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.15-2.09), assets score (RR 1.63, 95% CI 1.12-2.36) and employment status (RR 1.52, 95% CI 1.21-1.92), persons of low socio-economic status had an over 50% higher risk of dying from HIV/AIDS. The RR of 1.10 for education was not significant (95% CI 0.74-1.65).



Future research should identify effective strategies to reduce HIV/AIDS mortality and alleviate the consequences of HIV/AIDS deaths, particularly for poorer households.
Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada.|Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy & Center of Clinical Epidemiology and Longitudinal Studies, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
Charlotte
C
Probst
Alcohol, Tobacco & Other Drug Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa.|Department of Psychiatry, University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa.
Charles D H
CD
Parry
Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada.|Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy & Center of Clinical Epidemiology and Longitudinal Studies, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.|Addiction Policy, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.|Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.|Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Jürgen
J
Rehm
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000191:economics / Q000401:mortality*; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011203:Poverty; D012923:Social Class; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
AIDS; Afrique du Sud; HIV; SIDA; South Africa; Sudáfrica; VIH; desigualdad; estatus socioeconómico; inequality; inégalité; mortalidad; mortality; mortalité; socio-economic status; statut socioéconomique