title: Effect of highly active antiretroviral therapy on hospitalization characteristics of HIV-infected patients.
abstract: In order to determine the impact that highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has on inpatients with HIV infection, HIV-infected patients hospitalized from 1994 to 1999 at the Department of Internal Medicine, University of Basel, Switzerland, were investigated. During the observation period, 578 HIV-related hospitalizations occurred, and 502 charts from 262 different patients were available for evaluation. Analyses showed significant reductions in hospital mortality (from 13.2% to 6.5%) and length of stay for HIV-related admissions (from 16 to 11 days) in the post-HAART period, and the percentage of AIDS-related admissions decreased from 54.5% to 47.6%. However, the admission of HIV-infected patients to the intensive care unit increased from 6.3% to 11.8%, which could indicate that treating physicians have greater confidence in the outcome of HIV-infected patients due to better therapeutic options. Since the advent of HAART, the yearly number of admissions related to HIV dropped by 49% and HAART was administered often during hospital stay. By the end of the study period, death due to multiple HIV-associated diseases and wasting had disappeared.
authors.affiliation: Outpatient Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital, Petersgraben 4, 4031 Basel, Switzerland. nueschr@uhbs.ch
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nuesch
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Geigy
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schaedler
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Battegay
mesh_terms: D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active / Q000379:methods*; D002423:Cause of Death; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality*; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D011336:Probability; D012042:Registries; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013557:Switzerland