HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Related articles in AJPH Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Serraino, D Articles by Rezza, G Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Serraino, D Articles by Rezza, G

The classification of AIDS cases: concordance between two AIDS surveillance systems in Italy.

D Serraino, S Franceschi, L Dal Maso, A C Lepri, U Tirelli and G Rezza

Epidemiology Unit, Aviano Cancer Centre, Italy.

This study assessed the concordance between the transmission classification of 725 acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) cases by the Italian AIDS Registry (the national surveillance system) and the classification of the same cases by the Italian Cooperative Group on AIDS-Related Tumors. A high degree of concordance emerged for intravenous drug users in both sexes (kappa = 0.88; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.84, 0.92), for homosexual men (kappa = 0.83; 95% CI = 0.79, 0.87), and for persons infected through contaminated blood or blood derivatives (kappa = 1.00). The concordance was lower among heterosexual men (kappa = 0.51; 95% CI = 0.37, 0.65) and especially among men whose risk group was not determined (kappa = 0.28; 95% CI = 0.12, 0.44). The discrepancies observed among heterosexual men indicate a need for continuing and accurate monitoring of AIDS reporting by transmission category.

Related articles in AJPH:

Questioning the validity of self-reported heterosexual HIV transmission.

S Brody
AJPH 1996 86: 1172. [PDF]