Epi Profile Section 6 – Deaths in Texans Living with HIV

There are some special technical notes for this section. Information on deaths is always delayed, so the most recent information available is for 2016. All rates in this section are per 100,000 members of the population unless otherwise specified. Rates are adjusted by age using the CDC’s Statistical Notes for the 2000 U.S. Standard Population (11 age groups, Distribution #1). When the number of people in a group are very small, the rates and numbers of PLWH will not be shown. As with other sections, the other race/ethnicity category includes cases with unknown race/ethnicity and those in the multiple race category.

Deaths due to HIV in Texas PLWH

The impact of HIV is shown clearly in the information on deaths in Texans 25-44 years old, found in Table 17 at the end of this section. HIV is the 9th leading cause of death in Texans in this age group. As Table 17 shows, it is the 5th leading cause of death for Black Texans in this age group, and the 10th and 11th for White and Hispanic Texans, respectively. Black Texans made up more than half of the 25-44-year-olds with HIV listed as the cause of death in 2016 (Figure 22).
 

Figure 22: Race/ethnicity of 25-44-year-olds in Texas with HIV as the cause of death, 2016 

Data for Figure 22
 

Table 14 shows the age-adjusted rate of death due to HIV in 2016. Rates for Black Texas men were 5 times higher and rates for Black women were about 10 times higher than the rates for Whites or Hispanics. These higher rates show the disparities in access to effective medical care for HIV as well as the effect of social and environment forces that increase vulnerability to HIV and perpetuate the poor health outcomes for racial/ethnic minorities.
 

Table 14: Age-adjusted rate of death due to HIV per 100,000 population in Texas by sex and race/ethnicity,2016

Deaths Due to Any Cause in Texas PLWH

Table 15 shows the age-adjusted rate of death due to any cause in PLWH. As PLWH live longer, diseases and conditions associated with aging will increase as a cause of death. PWID had the highest death rates in PLWH, which may be due to comorbidities associated with injection drug use such as Hepatitis B and C.
 

Table 15: Age-adjusted rates of death due to any cause (per 1,000) in Texas PLWH by race/ethnicity and sex at birth, 2016

Source: Texas eHARS, 2018

In female PLWH who died in 2016, about half of the deaths were due to HIV. In transgender people living with HIV who died in 2016, three out of five deaths were caused by HIV.
 

Table 16: Deaths due to HIV and all other causes in PLWH by sex at birth and current gender identity, 2016

Source: Texas eHARS, 2018
 

Table 17: Cause of death rankings in adults age 25-44, Texas 2016

* Number of deaths masked due to low numbers
Source: Texas eHARS, 2018

Texas HIV Epidemiologic Profile