Few experts expect the AIDS death rate to continue to plunge, and some worry that the treatments that are being developed could lead to disregard for safer sex guidelines and to relaxation of efforts to reduce the use of contaminated needles by injection drug users. Many researchers are also extremely concerned that JIV might become resistant to current therapies. For AIDS mortality to continue to decrease, internists will have to teach behavior modification to those at risk, guard against opportunistic infections in those who are infected with HIV, and push combination therapy with antiretroviral agents as specified in the Center for Disease Control guidelines, according to Fauci. The explosion of new HIV drugs and therapeutic options presents an information challenge to internists, who need to keep up to date to deliver the best care to their HIV-infected patients. Reversal in Cancer Death Trend Explaining why mortality rates decrease in diseases like cancer and AIDS is important because health policy planners use mortality data as evidence to lobby for funding of strategies that are aimed at either prevention or therapy.
Oncology is an example.
Since 1991, however, the age-adjusted death rate has decreased slightly each year. Researchers then debated where to place the credit for lives saved. The cancer literature has outlined a disagreement between two groups of epidemiologists. One group argues that resources should be allocated for prevention efforts, and another group advocates investment in treatment-focused research. The overall decline in cancer mortality is highly correlated to the decline in lung cancer mortality, which is primarily reflective of changes in tobacco consumption.