Læknablaðið - 15.01.1996, Page 33

LÆKNABLAÐIÐ 1996; 82
21
Faraldsfræði alnæmis á
íslandi fyrstu 10 árin
Haraldur Briem1'2*, Sigurður B. Þorsteinsson3’, Sigurður Guðmundsson3’, Kristján Erlendsson3’, Arthur
Löve‘*)
The Epidemiology of AIDS in Iceland. The first Ten
Years
Iíriem H, Þorsteinsson SB, Guðmundsson S, Er-
lendsson K, Löve A
Læknablaðið 1996; 82; 21-31
Objective. To describe the epidemiology of AIDS
and HIV infection in Iceland with demographic
characteristics and associated risk factors.
Design. Survey of national data reported to the Of-
fice of the Director General of Public Health in
Iceland from November 1985 to December 31 1994.
The dates of diagnosis of HIV infection, AIDS and
death due to AIDS were collected from the patients
physicians.
Patients. All patients diagnosed with HIV and
AIDS in Iceland during the study period.
Methods. The expanded European AIDS surveil-
lance case definition was used (Lancet
1993;341:441). Reporting of individuals with AIDS
and HIV infection is semianonymous in Iceland ac-
cording to the act of law on sexually transmitted
diseases.
Results. As of December 31 1994 overall 79 males
and 14 females were diagnosed with HIV infection.
Of those infected 30 males and five females were
diagnosed with AIDS. Most of those infected with
HIV were 20-29 years old (44%) and most of those
diagnosed with AIDS were 30-39 years old (40%).
The incidence of AIDS (number of cases/100,000/
year) was 1.36 (2.3 for males and 0.4 for women)
Frá '’smitsjúkdómadeild Borgarspítalans, 2,landlæknisem-
bættinu, 3)lyflækningadeild Landspítalans, “’Rannsókna-
stofu Háskólans í veirufræði. Fyrirspurnir, bréfaskipti: Har-
aldur Briem smitsjúkdómadeild Borgarpsítalans, 108
Reykjavík.
during the first 10 years. Of those 35 diagnosed with
AIDS 26 died (74%) during this period. The median
survival time after the diagnosis of AIDS was 22
months (95% CI; 16-28 months). The majority of
the patients with AIDS (91%) and the HIV infected
cases (65%) were homosexual or bisexual males but
the proportion of those infected by heterosexual
contact has been increasing and was at the end of the
study period 16%. HIV infection among i.v. drug
abusers has been rare in Iceland hitherto. No pae-
diatric cases were observed.
Conclusion. The spread of AIDS in Iceland is not as
rapid as in many other countries. The incidence rate
has not changed significantly during the study peri-
od. At the same time the death rate of AIDS pa-
tients has been increasing indicating a slowing of the
AIDS epidemic. The major changes regarding trans-
mission categories are the increasing proportion of
heterosexuals and decreasing proportion of homo-
sexual and bisexual males.
From Department of Infectious Diseases, Reykja-
vík City Hospital, Office of the Director General of
Public Health, Department of Medicine, Landspít-
alinn/the National University Hospital, Laboratory
of Virology. the University of Iceland.
Correspondence: Haraldur Briem, Department of
Infectious Diseases, Reykjavík City Hospital, 108
Reykjavík, Iceland. Tel: 569 66 00. Fax: 569 6576.
Ágrip
Lýst er faraldsfræði alnæmis og smits af
völdum alnæmisveiru fyrstu 10 árin sem sjúk-
dómurinn hefur verið þekktur á íslandi. Stuðst
var við tilkynningar um alnæmi og smit af völd-
um veirunnar sem bárust landlæknisembætt-
inu. Aflað var upplýsinga hjá meðhöndlandi
læknum um tímasetningar sjúkdómsgreining-