FURTHER EVIDENCE THAT ZIDOVUDINE EXTENDS LIFE IN AIDS

Home>
Specialties>
General Medicine>
Summary and Comment

FURTHER EVIDENCE THAT ZIDOVUDINE EXTENDS LIFE IN AIDS.

Controlled studies at medical centers have indicated that zidovudine (AZT) can prolong life in patients with AIDS. Now a large, community-wide observational study confirms these results.

The study used a state-wide database, sponsored in part by zidovudine maker Burroughs Wellcome, that has followed patients with AIDS since 1983. The database includes only patients with some form of health insurance. The time between the diagnosis of AIDS and death was found to be 45 percent longer (450 vs. 310 days) among patients diagnosed after April 1987, when zidovudine became available, than among those diagnosed between 1983 and 1985. The median survival among patients who received zidovudine was 770 days, versus 190 days in those who did not receive the drug.

Since many other temporal trends in treatments such as pneumocystis prophylaxis may also have improved survival, this uncontrolled observational study cannot be taken as conclusive evidence that zidovudine prolongs life. Nevertheless, the data are impressive. A disturbing finding is that the use of zidovudine was greater and survival was longer in men than women, persons younger than 45 than older individuals, and non-Hispanic whites than Hispanics and blacks. This suggests that more efforts are needed to ensure that all treatments for AIDS, including zidovudine, are equally accessible to all people affected.

— ALK

Published in Journal Watch General Medicine May 21, 1991