Abstract： Objective To analyze the causes of death for 89 HIV/AIDS patients,and the association of CD4+ T lymphocyte counts with the mortality.Methods Data were collected from 89 deceased patients who were admitted to Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center from Jan 1996 to Sep 2007,and were retrospectively analyzed with t-test.Results Heterosexual,blood transfusion and blood products were the major transmission routs for 89 deceased HIV/AIDS patients.The primary causes of death varied with different levels of CD4+ T lymphocyte counts.With higher CD4+T lymphocyte counts,patients were more likely to die from non-AIDS-related opportunistic infections such as upper digestive tract hemorrhage.Serious pulmonary infection induced by various etiologies was the primary cause of death.Co-infections of multiple etiologics were often seen in these death cases.Conclusion Opportunistic infection is the primary cause of death for HIV/AIDS patients.Appropriate therapies should be based on CD4+ T lymphocyte counts and patients' specific conditions to reduce the mortality.