Triple-class virologic failure in HIV-infected patients undergoing antiretroviral therapy for up to 10 years.
BACKGROUND
Life expectancy of people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is now estimated to approach that of the general population in some successfully treated subgroups. However, to attain these life expectancies, viral suppression must be maintained for decades.


METHODS
We studied the rate of triple-class virologic failure (TCVF) in patients within the Collaboration of Observational HIV Epidemiological Research Europe (COHERE) who started antiretroviral therapy (ART) that included a nonnucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) or a ritonavir-boosted protease inhibitor (PI/r) from 1998 onwards. We also focused on TCVF in patients who started a PI/r-containing regimen after a first-line NNRTI-containing regimen failed.


RESULTS
Of 45 937 patients followed up for a median (interquartile range) of 3.0 (1.5-5.0) years, 980 developed TCVF (2.1%). By 5 and 9 years after starting ART, an estimated 3.4% (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.1%-3.6%) and 8.6% (95% CI, 7.5%-9.8%) of patients, respectively, had developed TCVF. The incidence of TCVF rose during the first 3 to 4 years on ART but plateaued thereafter. There was no significant difference in the risk of TCVF according to whether the initial regimen was NNRTI or PI/r based (P = .11). By 5 years after starting a PI/r regimen as second-line therapy, 46% of patients had developed TCVF.


CONCLUSIONS
The rate of virologic failure of the 3 original drug classes is low, but not negligible, and does not appear to diminish over time from starting ART. If this trend continues, many patients are likely to need newer drugs to maintain viral suppression. The rate of TCVF from the start of a PI/r regimen after NNRTI failure provides a comparator for studies of response to second-line regimens in resource-limited settings.
Lodwick
Rebecca
R
Costagliola
Dominique
D
Reiss
Peter
P
Torti
Carlo
C
Teira
Ramón
R
Dorrucci
Maria
M
Ledergerber
Bruno
B
Mocroft
Amanda
A
Podzamczer
Daniel
D
Cozzi-Lepri
Alessandro
A
Obel
Niels
N
Masquelier
Bernard
B
Staszewski
Schlomo
S
García
Federico
F
De Wit
Stephane
S
Castagna
Antonella
A
Antinori
Andrea
A
Judd
Ali
A
Ghosn
Jade
J
Touloumi
Giota
G
Mussini
Cristina
C
Duval
Xavier
X
Ramos
José
J
Meyer
Laurence
L
Warsawski
Josiane
J
Thorne
Claire
C
Masip
Joan
J
Pérez-Hoyos
Santiago
S
Pillay
Deenan
D
van Sighem
Ard
A
Lo Caputo
Sergio
S
Günthard
Huldrych
H
Paredes
Roger
R
De Luca
Andrea
A
Paraskevis
Dimitrios
D
Fabre-Colin
Céline
C
Kjaer
Jesper
J
Chêne
Genèvieve
G
Lundgren
Jens D
JD
Phillips
Andrew N
AN
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D017320:HIV Protease Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D019438:Ritonavir / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017211:Treatment Failure; D019562:Viral Load / Q000187:drug effects*; D055815:Young Adult
D019380:Anti-HIV Agents; D017320:HIV Protease Inhibitors; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors; D019438:Ritonavir