Inpatient admissions and outpatient visits in persons with and without HIV infection in Denmark, 1995-2007.

OBJECTIVE: HAART has changed morbidity and mortality in the HIV-infected population dramatically. We aimed to estimate the use of healthcare facilities in HIV-infected patients after the introduction of HAART.

DESIGN: This is a prospective nationwide cohort study.

METHODS: We identified all Danish HIV patients and a cohort of population controls matched on sex and date of birth. The study period was 1995-2007. We calculated inpatient admission rates and outpatient visit rates stratified by medical speciality and International Classification of Diseases-10 diagnose categories. Relative risks were computed.

RESULTS: Four thousand, seven hundred and sixty HIV-infected patients and 23 800 population controls were identified. Overall inpatient admission rates [95% confidence interval (CI)] for HIV-infected patients decreased from 90 (88-93) to 57 (56-58)/100 person-years in the study period. The risk ratio (95% CI) fell from 6.2 (6.0-6.5) to 3.1 (3.1-3.2) predominantly due to reduced inpatient admission rates to departments of infectious diseases. The overall outpatient visit rates (95% CI) for the HIV-infected patients increased from 744 (737-751) to 877 (872-882)/100 person-years, mainly due to visits at departments other than infectious diseases. A marked increase in outpatient visit rates (95% CI) in the background population decreased the risk ratio from 16.5 (16.2-16.8) to 7.1 (7.0-7.2). We observed a decreased relative risk of inpatient admissions and outpatient visits due to cancers and a small increase in relative risk due to cardiovascular disease.

CONCLUSION: After the introduction of HAART, the inpatient treatment of HIV-infected patients has decreased, especially at departments of infectious disease. In contrast, this population's use of outpatient facilities has increased in noninfectious disease specialities.