Correcting for misclassified HIV/AIDS deaths in Mexico. Retrospective analysis, 1983-2012

Objective: To identify and reassign misclassified AIDS deaths in Mexico, reconstructing the time series of mortality from 1983 to 2012, by state, sex, age, and affiliation to social security. Materials and methods: 15.5 million deaths from 1979 to 2012 were analyzed. The HIV-AIDS mortality correction was done in three phases: a) those causes directly related to AIDS; b) by miscoded deaths, and c) AIDS deaths hidden in other underlying causes of death. Age-standardized rates of mortality (SMR) were calculated by sex, affiliation to social security, and state. Results: 107 981 AIDS deaths from 1983 to 2012 were accumulated, representing 11[%] of total deaths observed for the period. The SMR in men for all age groups begins to decline since 1996, while for women the decline started in 2008. A similar picture is observed for the population with / without social security. Heterogeneity is a feature for SMR by state. Conclusion: An easily replicable methodology for the correction of mortality from AIDS, which generates relevant information for decision making based on the evidence is presented.