ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To describe the evolution of the number of potential years of life lost (PYLL) because of AIDS in La Rioja between 1986 and 1993. DESIGN: Descriptive study. SETTING: Autonomous Community of La Rioja. PATIENTS AND OTHER PARTICIPANTS: Secondary data from the regional Register of AIDS cases in La Rioja, from the Register of Deaths in La Rioja and from the mortality statistics found in the National Statistics Institute. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: From 1986 the increase in PYLL because of AIDS as a percentage of all causes of premature death was constant. If proportional mortality because of AIDS is grouped in two periods (1986-1989 and 1990-1993), in the first period and for men 1.1% of all PYLL were due to AIDS, whereas in the second this figure was 7.7%. For women these figures went from 0.7 to 8,5. Expressed as a risk, for men the probability that PYLL was due to AIDS was 4 times greater in the second period than in the first. For women this probability was 12 times greater in the second period than in the first. Among men the rates of PYLL adjusted for age kept roughly constant or with a light downward tendency for all the causes studied except AIDS, which occupied second place in the last year studied. Rates of PYLL adjusted for age were more irregular over the years in the case of women, but the increase in AIDS was notable and in 1993 took third place. CONCLUSIONS: Interpreting the results of this study enables the impact of AIDS on premature mortality in La Rioja to be quantified.
