title: The impact on health-related quality of life of treatment interruptions in HIV-1-infected patients.
abstract: To examine health-related quality of life (HRQOL) before, during and after treatment interruptions (TI) in antiretroviral therapy, we analysed results from Medical Outcomes Study HIV health surveys on 50 HIV-1-infected patients. HRQOL scores decreased during a TI but increased after re-initiating treatment, although scores remained lower than those preceding the TI. The reasons for a TI differentially affected HRQOL. The findings suggest that TI should be based on medical decisions and not used to increase HRQOL.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: Hartmut B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Krentz
authors.forename: M John
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Gill
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D015497:HIV-1; D006801:Humans; D011788:Quality of Life; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric