Causes of death in HIV infection: the key determinant to define the clinical response to anti-HIV therapy.

Studies have shown an increased risk of new AIDS/death among injecting drug users (IDU) starting highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Of 3872 patients starting HAART in the EuroSIDA study, 819 were IDU (21.2%). During 14 769 person-years of follow-up, 499 patients progressed to new AIDS/death. Compared with homosexual individuals, IDU had an increased incidence of new AIDS/death, but only for non-HIV deaths. There is an urgent need to define and standardize causes of death in observational studies.