Tuberculosis and survival of HIV-infected individuals by time since seroconversion.

In a cohort of 1950 HIV-positive men with known dates of HIV seroconversion, 399 developed tuberculosis. Mortality rates following tuberculosis were greatly increased (hazard ratio, adjusted for age at seroconversion, 4.7, 95% confidence interval 3.7-6.1), and this ratio was similar at different times following seroconversion. Overall mortality was similar to that in western seroconverter cohorts with much lower rates of tuberculosis, suggesting that tuberculosis is more a marker of HIV progression than a cause of it.