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Geospatial study identifies hotspots in deaths from HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C in Massachusetts
Results can help inform a targeted public health and clinical response
BOSTON (December 11, 2014) - A new study from epidemiologists at Tufts University School of Medicine helps to identify communities with the greatest public
health need in Massachusetts for resources relating to HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C. The study, published today in PLOS ONE ,
used geospatial techniques to identify hotspots for deaths related to HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C. The findings show large
disparities in death rates exist across race and ethnicity in Massachusetts.
The HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C epidemics are challenging public health officials and clinicians in the United States. While HIV/AIDS
mortality rates have decreased, hepatitis C infection rates have increased at a steep rate in younger populations. Co-infection
is common among drug users. Public health officials are also increasingly concerned about long-standing and initially silent
hepatitis C infections in baby boomers.
Studies of mortality frequently use only one cause of death, but these studies often miss the underlying cause of death. To get a fuller
picture, the research team looked at the contributing or underlying causes of death, related to HIV/AIDS or hepatitis C, as documented
on death certificates from 2002 to 2011 in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Hispanic and black populations die at rates up to five times greater than white and Asian populations from HIV/AIDS or hepatitis C,
particularly those aged 45-65. Springfield, Worcester, South Boston, the Merrimack Valley, and New Bedford had the highest rates of
death from HIV/AIDS or hepatitis C and are identified as the communities in greatest need of resources for reducing disparities.
"Many neighborhoods and towns are affected by these intertwined epidemics, but some neighborhoods and municipalities have been hit
particularly hard. While these specific communities are hardest hit now, hepatitis C has been increasing in young, nonurban, white,
populations so preventing transmission - particularly because it often takes about 20 to 30 years for symptoms to show up - is
paramount," said senior author Tom Stopka, Ph.D., assistant professor of public health and community medicine at Tufts
University School of Medicine.
"Comprehensive prevention should include health education, enhanced counseling and testing, linkage to care, and increased access to
sterile syringes through syringe exchange programs and pharmacies. Expanded treatment is also essential, for both HIV and
hepatitis C, to decrease transmission risks in local communities," he continued.
The research team looked at all death certificates in Massachusetts from 2002 to 2011 that had HIV/AIDS or hepatitis C as an underlying
or contributing cause of death. Using population estimates, they calculated mortality rates in each census tract across the state by
race and age.
The researchers conducted geospatial and temporal hotspot analyses to see what areas had clusters of higher mortality rates for HIV/AIDS
and hepatitis C compared to the rest of the state and portrayed the results in maps.
Detailed findings:
- The research team found a total of 4,818 deaths associated with HIV/AIDS and 2,913 deaths associated with hepatitis C during the ten-year period.
- While HIV/AIDS deaths decreased over the ten-year period, hepatitis C deaths increased slightly.
- Age-adjusted mortality rates for hepatitis C were 2.9 per 100,000 people for white populations while they were 10 and 10.4 for black and Hispanic populations respectively.
- Age-adjusted mortality rates for HIV/AIDS were 1.6 per 100,000 people for white populations while they were 14.3 and 10.7 for black and Hispanic populations, respectively.
- The largest hotspots of HIV deaths occurred in the Greater Boston area, the Greater Worcester and Springfield areas, New Bedford, and Provincetown.
- The largest hotspots of hepatitis C deaths occurred in South Boston/Dorchester, New Bedford, Lawrence/Merrimack Valley, Springfield, Worcester, and Salem/Lynn/Peabody.
- Significant coldspots of mortality were also found for both hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS primarily in the metrowest region of Boston but also in the southeast.
"I conducted this study to better highlight the enormous, yet preventable, disparities that exist in infectious disease mortality,
especially in the case of AIDS and hepatitis C. By analyzing who is dying from these conditions, and where, we can figure out the
best ways to organize a targeted response to improve health equity," said first author, David Meyers, M.P.H. Meyers conducted
the study as part of his MPH degree program at Tufts University School of Medicine. He is currently an analyst at the
Harvard School of Public Health.
While anyone can get hepatitis C, more than 75% of adults infected are baby boomers, perhaps as a result of receiving contaminated blood
before the blood supply was screened beginning in 1992. People can live with hepatitis C for decades without symptoms. Chronic
hepatitis C can lead to serious health problems including liver damage, but new, highly effective medications are available.
No external funding contributed to this research.
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Citation: Meyers DJ, Hood ME, Stopka TJ (2014). HIV and Hepatitis C Mortality in Massachusetts, 2002-2011: Spatial Cluster and
Trend Analysis of HIV and HCV Using Multiple Cause of Death. PLoS ONE 9(12): e114822. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0114822 http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0114822
About Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences Tufts University School of Medicine
and the Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts University are international leaders in innovative medical and
population health education and advanced research. Tufts University School of Medicine emphasizes rigorous fundamentals in
a dynamic learning environment to educate physicians, scientists, and public health professionals to become leaders in
their fields. The School of Medicine and the Sackler School are renowned for excellence in education in general
medicine, the biomedical sciences, and public health, as well as for innovative research at the cellular,
molecular, and population health level. Ranked among the top in the nation, the School of Medicine is
affiliated with six major teaching hospitals and more than 30 health care facilities.
Tufts University School of Medicine and the Sackler School undertake research that
is consistently rated among the highest in the nation for its effect on the advancement of medical and prevention science.
Contact: Siobhan Gallagher
Siobhan.gallagher@tufts.edu
617-636-6586
Tufts University, Health Sciences Campus
@tuftspr
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-12/tuhs-gsi121114.php
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