HIV/AIDS is leading cause of death for African American, Latina women in Pennsylvania.

2003 FEB 13 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Philadelphia AIDS Consortium (TPAC) announced the release of their recent study "The AIDS Crisis in Pennsylvania: The Hidden Epidemic Among African American and Latina Women."

The study calls attention to the changing face of the AIDS epidemic and highlights issues related to prevention efforts. African American and Latina women are the fastest growing and most at-risk groups within the HIV/AIDS population, findings show. These two groups represent a disproportionately high percentage of AIDS cases among women in both the United States and in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

In 2001, more than 80% of female AIDS cases in the U.S. occurred in women between the ages of 25 to 49. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) statistics, HIV/AIDS was the leading cause of death in 1999 for African American women ages 25-34 in both the U.S. and Pennsylvania. For ages 35-44 it was the third leading cause of death in the U.S. and second in Pennsylvania.

While African American statistics by state and by nation are comparable, the death rate of Latinas from HIV ranks significantly higher in Pennsylvania than the national average. Among Latinas ages 25-34 in Pennsylvania, HIV ranked as the leading cause of death, while it ranked as the fourth leading cause of death for Latinas nationally. For Latinas ages 35-44, HIV ranked 3rd nationally but 2nd in Pennsylvania.

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