Duration of highly active antiretroviral therapy regimens.
The median duration of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) regimens was reported to be 11.8 months in one US study, but that study included both treatment-experienced and treatment-naive patients. The duration of initial HAART regimens for treatment-naive patients alone has not been reported. We selected 405 antiretroviral-naive patients who were seen at the University of Alabama at Birmingham HIV Outpatient Clinic from 1 January 1996 through 9 October 2001, and we assessed the duration of initial and successive HAART regimens in this group. Any antiretroviral medication change, excluding dosage changes, that lasted >or=14 days was considered to indicate the start of a new regimen. The median duration of regimens was determined by Kaplan-Meier analysis, and proportional hazards regression was used to identify factors associated with shorter duration of initial regimen. The median duration of initial regimens was 1.6 years, and medication toxicity-associated events were the cause of one-half of discontinuations. Only a history of opportunistic infection and injection drug use were significantly associated with shorter regimen duration.
Chen
Ray Y
RY
Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 35294-2050, USA. msaag@uab.edu
Westfall
Andrew O
AO
Mugavero
Michael J
MJ
Cloud
Gretchen A
GA
Raper
James L
JL
Chatham
Ashlee G
AG
Acosta
Edward P
EP
Taylor
Kelly H
KH
Carter
Jerome
J
Saag
Michael S
MS
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D006678:HIV / Q000187:drug effects / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009894:Opportunistic Infections / Q000188:drug therapy; D010045:Outpatients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011446:Prospective Studies; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000188:drug therapy; D028761:Withholding Treatment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data