Objective: To examine the secular trends of all AIDS opportunistic infections to occur first (OIs) in Greece, by year, by gender and by mode of transmission.
Methods: The study included all AIDS defining conditions reported among Greek residents diagnosed with AIDS from 1981 to June 2003 and notified to the Hellenic Centre of Infectious Diseases Control. The analysis of trends in AIDS defining conditions in Greece has been performed only for the period 1993--2003.
Results: From 1981 to the first six months of 2003, 2,394 AIDS cases, 2,361 adults and 33 children, have been reported. HIV wasting syndrome was the most frequent OI to occur first followed by PCP pneumonia and Kaposi sarcoma. The frequency at which OIs occurred first varied by sex. Kaposi sarcoma was more frequent in males while tuberculosis and oesophageal candidiasis were more frequent in females. The frequency at which OIs occurred first varied also by exposure mode. Kaposi sarcoma was more frequent among men who have sex with men but that was not the case for the remaining transmission categories. From 1993 to the first six months of 2003 a downward trend was noticed only for chronic simplex disease. Since the introduction of HAART, an increasing trend was noticed for CMV disease, recurrent pneumonia, oesophageal candidiasis, Burkitt and immunoblastic lymphoma.
Conclusion: Further epidemiological studies are needed to assess the OIs trends in coming years in order to plan prevention strategies and future medical care needs.