Virologic response differences between African Americans and European Americans initiating highly active antiretroviral therapy with equal access to care.
OBJECTIVE
Studies comparing virologic response to highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) between African Americans (AA) and European Americans (EA) have been confounded by differences in duration of HIV infection and access to health care. We evaluated virologic response to HAART between ethnicities in a large cohort with fewer confounders.


METHODS
The odds of attaining viral suppression at 6- and 12-months post-HAART were determined by multivariate logistic regression for HIV-infected AA and EA prospectively followed in a large US military cohort. Time-to-event methods were used to compare maintenance of suppression.


RESULTS
A total of 1363 subjects (51% AA, 92% men) with viral load results available 6 months after HAART initiation were included. There was no difference between ethnicities in time from seroconversion to HIV diagnosis or HAART initiation or in HAART regimens. Adjusted for multiple demographic and HIV-related factors, AA had significantly lower odds of obtaining undetectable viral loads after 6 (odds ratio 0.6, 95% confidence interval 0.4-0.8, P < 0.001) and 12 months (odds ratio 0.6, 95% confidence interval 0.4-0.8, P = 0.002) of HAART. Once undetectable, there was no difference in time to virologic failure between AA and EA.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite similar durations of HIV infection and equal access to health care, AAs were significantly less likely to achieve viral suppression compared with EA.
Weintrob
Amy C
AC
Infectious Disease Clinical Research Program of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA. Amy.Weintrob@amedd.army.mil
Grandits
Greg A
GA
Agan
Brian K
BK
Ganesan
Anuradha
A
Landrum
Michael L
ML
Crum-Cianflone
Nancy F
NF
Johnson
Erica N
EN
Ordóñez
Claudia E
CE
Wortmann
Glenn W
GW
Marconi
Vincent C
VC
D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000821:virology; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008889:Military Personnel; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D019562:Viral Load; D044465:White People
D019380:Anti-HIV Agents