title: Changing morbidity of cutaneous diseases in patients with HIV after the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy including a protease inhibitor.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is a combination of an HIV protease inhibitor (PI), one or two reverse transcriptase inhibitors (RTIs) and/or non-nuclease reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs). This combination therapy is able to reduce peripheral HIV viral load, elevate CD4+ cell counts and improve the clinical outcome.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the impact of HAART therapy, including one PI, on the prevalence of skin diseases in patients with HIV/AIDS.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was performed by collecting data about HIV populations followed at the 'M. Bufalini' Infectious Diseases Unit and San Patrignano Medical Centre, Italy. The medical records regarding the dermatological diseases of such people were retrospectively examined in 12-month periods before (1996) and after (1999) the introduction of HAART.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The two groups of patients were matched for age, gender and stage of HIV disease. During the first part of the study, 328 of the 456 patients (72%) sought medical advice 689 times for dermatoses. In the second period, 196 of the 502 patients (39%) made a total of 255 visits. There was a considerable decrease in the number of dermatological visits (-63%) and patients with dermatological problems (-40%). In the group that did not receive HAART, 66% of the patients had cutaneous infections, 25% had inflammatory cutaneous disorders, 8% adverse cutaneous drug reactions and 1% cutaneous neoplasms. In the group of patients treated with HAART, cutaneous infections were observed in 53% of patients, while 21% of patients had inflammatory dermatoses, 20% of patients showed adverse cutaneous drug reactions, and 1% had skin cancers. The remaining 5% asked to see a dermatologist for cosmetic reasons.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The group of patients who received combination regimens including PIs had significantly lower cutaneous morbidity than those treated with nucleoside analogs alone. This tendency included both opportunistic infections and inflammatory cutaneous diseases. Adverse cutaneous drug reactions related to multidrug combination therapy were significantly higher in the group receiving HAART.
authors.affiliation: Dermatology Unit, M. Bufalini Hospital, Cesena, Italy. calista@iol.it
authors.forename: Donato
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Calista
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morri
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stagno
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boschini
mesh_terms: D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000328:Adult; D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology; D017320:HIV Protease Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D019469:Indinavir / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009017:Morbidity; D015995:Prevalence; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D019562:Viral Load; D015215:Zidovudine / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D017320:HIV Protease Inhibitors; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors; D015215:Zidovudine; D019469:Indinavir