from Medical Issues

The study was conducted by Dr. Bruce R. Schackman, Chief of the Division of Health Policy in the Department of Public Health at Weill Cornell Medical College, and associates.

According to Schackman, "Policy makers need accurate and up-to-date predictions of the future expense of HIV treatment if they seek to ensure broad access to high-quality care."

The researchers estimated that the monthly medical cost for people with HIV from beginning of care until death to be $2,100 on average. The projected life expectancy of those on optimal medical care is 24.2 years. The lifetime cost is now $618,900 per person with HIV, comparable to an under 65 aged woman with cardiovascular disease.

Medical News Today reported that "When HIV care costs are discounted to reflect the fact that they will be incurred in the future, the projected lifetime cost per person at the time of entering optimal HIV care is $385,200, and the treatment expense that can be avoided by preventing each HIV infection is $303,100."

A 1993 estimate of the life expectancy for HIV-infected adults without symptoms was 6.8 years and approximately 50% of the future cost of care for this individual was expected to be for hospital stays while only 14% would be for medications."

The Centers for Disease Control has estimated that 40,000 individuals in the U.S. become infected each year. These infections will cost $12.1 billion in future treatment costs.

Studies published in 1983 and 1985 noted that multiple sex partners were the main reason for the spread of HIV among gay males. (Jaffe, et al., Ann Internal Med., 1983, Aug 99(2): 145-51; Goedert, et al., Am J Epidemiol., 1985, 121: 637-44.)