Factors associated with the evolution of the viral load in individuals with HIV infection.
The temporal evolution of the viral load (VL) in a group of patients under clinical care and the identification of individual variables that determined this evolution was studied using a retrospective descriptive study of the VL determinations on 1336 patients between September 1996 and June 2000. During follow-up, patients' VLs increasingly fell below the detection threshold. Those patients who had received antiretroviral treatment prior to the monitoring of the viraemia presented lower VLs at the start of their follow-up. Those patients who had been cared for on the same unit throughout their follow-up maintained lower VLs. Female patients uniformly presented lower VL results than the males. The immunological status at the beginning of follow-up and the basal VL determined the initial evolution of the patients' VL, although it did not do so in the final stages of follow-up. The immunological and virological state at the onset of the follow-up determines the evolution of the patients' VL.
Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valladolid, Spain. alfremona@yahoo.es
M
M
Ortega
J M
JM
Eiros
C
C
Labayru
B
B
Hernández
G
G
Bou
R
R
Ortiz de Lejarazu
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000821:virology*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D019562:Viral Load; D014766:Viremia
D019380:Anti-HIV Agents