Two decades of HIV infection in a cohort of haemophilic individuals: clinical outcomes and response to highly active antiretroviral therapy.
OBJECTIVE
Many haemophilic individuals infected with HIV died before receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART). Most who remain alive are chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), which has implications for their prognosis and choice of ART. The clinical status of a cohort of HIV-positive haemophilic men is reported together with their response to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART).


METHODS
Longitudinal cohort study.


METHODS
A comprehensive care haemophilia centre.


METHODS
A group of 111 haemophilic men who seroconverted to HIV in the period 1979 to 1985.


RESULTS
The cohort has been followed since 1979. By 30 April 1999, 57 of the 111 men had developed AIDS and 65 had died: Kaplan-Meier rates of 57.0% [95% confidence interval (CI) 46.9-67.0) and 65.1% (95% CI 52.7-77.4) by 19.5 years, respectively. AIDS rates have declined since 1997 but death rates have remained high, largely owing to deaths from non-HIV-related causes. Thirty-five patients remain alive and under follow-up at the clinic. The 28 men who had received ART had lower CD4 cell counts than the seven patients who had not received ART, but the two groups were otherwise similar. In total, 21 patients are known to have started HAART while under care at the centre. By 10-12 months after starting HAART, viral loads dropped by 2.06 log10 copies/ml and CD4 cell counts increased by 60 x 10(6) cells/l. In 10 out of 18 patients with viral loads initially > 400 copies/ml, a viral load below this level was attained; four had changed therapy at the time.


CONCLUSIONS
While the decision to initiate HAART in haemophilic men should be made carefully because of the possible adverse events, our results suggest that a good response rate was achieved in this group of men.
Sabin
C A
CA
Royal Free Centre for HIV Medicine, Department of Primary Care and Population Sciences, Royal Free and University College Medical School, London, UK.
Yee
T T
TT
Devereux
H
H
Griffioen
A
A
Loveday
C
C
Phillips
A N
AN
Lee
C A
CA
D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D015331:Cohort Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology / Q000401:mortality; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000502:physiology; D006467:Hemophilia A / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D019562:Viral Load; D014766:Viremia
D019380:Anti-HIV Agents; D012367:RNA, Viral; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors