Socio-economic differences in HIV/AIDS mortality in South Africa

Abstract

Objectives: To quantify socio-economic differences in the risk of HIV/AIDS mortality in South Africa for different measures of socio-economic status.

Methods: Systematic literature search in Web of Knowledge and PubMed. Measures of relative risk (RR) were pooled separately for education, income, assets score and employment status as measures of socio-economic status, using inverse-variance weighted DerSimonian-Laird random effects meta-analyses.

Results: Ten studies were eligible for inclusion comprising over 175 000 participants and 6700 deaths. For income (RR 1.55, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.15-2.09), assets score (RR 1.63, 95% CI 1.12-2.36) and employment status (RR 1.52, 95% CI 1.21-1.92), persons of low socio-economic status had an over 50% higher risk of dying from HIV/AIDS. The RR of 1.10 for education was not significant (95% CI 0.74-1.65).

Conclusions: Future research should identify effective strategies to reduce HIV/AIDS mortality and alleviate the consequences of HIV/AIDS deaths, particularly for poorer households.

Keywords: AIDS; Afrique du Sud; HIV; SIDA; South Africa; Sudáfrica; VIH; desigualdad; estatus socioeconómico; inequality; inégalité; mortalidad; mortality; mortalité; socio-economic status; statut socioéconomique.