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Gender-based violence related to higher mortality risk in women with HIV
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Women with HIV who are exposed to gender-based violence have a higher mortality risk than those who are not, according to researchers from the CORE Center at Cook County Health and Hospital Systems in Chicago.
The researchers evaluated the effect of sexual, physical and emotional abuse on mortality among 2,222 women: 1,642 were HIV positive and 580 were not. The women were participants in the Women’s Interagency HIV Study, an ongoing cohort study. Marginal structural survival models were used to estimate mortality, which was confirmed using the National Death Index Plus registry.
From 1994 to 2007, 437 women died who had abuse data on the year before death. The women who died were older, had HIV, were not receiving ART, had lower nadir and current CD4, had engaged in transactional sex, used drugs and tobacco, were depressed, reported lower cognitive function and had a history of abuse before the study.
Recent abuse was associated with all-cause mortality (HR=1.54; 95% CI, 1.18-2.02). When stratified by pre-baseline abuse history and by HIV serostatus, this remained significant. Women without HIV were affected (HR=4.39; 95% CI, 1.78-10.82) more than women with HIV (HR=1.42; 95% CI, 1.07-1.89).
References:
Weber K. #WEAD0104. Presented at: XIX International AIDS Conference; July 22-27, 2012; Washington, D.C.
Disclosures:
Ms. Weber reports no relevant financial disclosures.