Burden of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Infection in Hospitalized Thai Adults: An Analysis of Data from the National Health Insurance System 2010
Siriluck Anunnatsiri MD*, Yupa Thavornpitak MSc**
Affiliation : * Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand ** Department of Biostatistics and Demography, Faculty of Public Health, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, Thailand
Background : Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection continues to be a major health problem worldwide. Whether
several intervention programs are successful enough to ameliorate the significant hospitalization burden created by these
patients is not known.
Objective : To analyze the burden of HIV infection on patient-hospitalization and death in the adult population using in-patient
information from the three health insurance coverage schemes from the fiscal year 2010.
Material and Method: The authors analyzed the data on in-patients with ICD-10 coding B20-B24 HIV disease to obtain the
admission and mortality rate, length of hospital stay and hospital charges.
Results : The admission rate among adult HIV-infected patients was 91.8 times per 100,000 adult population. The most
common age group affected by the disease was the 26-40 year-olds (59%). The most common condition causing hospitalization
was opportunistic infection (83.6%), of which tuberculosis was the highest. The mortality rate was 10.3% and increasing with
age. AIDS-related symptoms, malignancy and opportunistic infections were the major impacts on mortality.
Conclusion : HIV/AIDS still constitutes a major disease burden among the adult Thai population. Increased public awareness
and prevention and access to early HIV diagnosis and treatment could be key factors for lowering the burden of disease and
improving clinical outcomes.
Keywords : Burden of disease, HIV, Thai adult population
