Women in AIDS Virus Study Die Faster Than Men

Women infected with the AIDS virus die faster than men with the infection, a study has found.

No medical reason for the difference was apparent, said the study’s authors, led by Sandra L. Melnick, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

Instead, the researchers said, women may wait until they are sicker before seeking care or may be treated differently.

The study, in today’s issue of the Journal of the American Medical Assn., tracked 768 women and 3,779 men--all infected with the AIDS virus--for about 15 months and found that women were 33% more likely to die than men who were comparably ill when they were enrolled in the study.

In women, twice as often as in men, death was the first sign that AIDS was progressing, researchers found. In men, the first signs were more likely to be bouts of pneumonia or fungal infections.