title: Comparing the efficacy of efavirenz and boosted lopinavir using viremia copy-years.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  HIV-1 plasma viral load during treatment can be highly variable. Thus, there is the need to find a measure of cumulative viremia that can be used to assess both the short- and long-term efficacy of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Here, we validate a measure of cumulative viremia to evaluate HAART efficacy.
  
  
  METHODS
  We accessed HAART efficacy using data from a randomized clinical trial conducted in Mexico. We compared the proportion of individuals achieving a viral load <50 and <400 copies/mL at week 48, against the cumulative plasma viral load, estimated as the area under the plasma viral load curve (AUVLC). High AUVLC indicates high cumulative viremia.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There was a strong and significant association between the proportion of individuals achieving a viral load <50 and <400 copies/mL at week 48, with individuals suppressed having significant lower cumulative viremia. The median area was 7513 (25th-75th percentile [Q1-Q3] 6634-8180) if viral load <50 copies/mL and 7679 (Q1-Q3 6899-9373) if viral load ≥50 copies/mL (p-value 0.0284). When the analysis was stratified by study arm, individuals on efavirenz had lower cumulative viremia than those on boosted lopinavir.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that cumulative viremia should be explored further as a tool to simultaneously evaluate the individual and public health efficacy of HAART. This is particularly relevant to the implementation and evaluation of the Treatment 2.0 strategy recently proposed by UNAIDS and the WHO, as a means to maximize the individual and public health benefit of HAART.
authors.affiliation: British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Division of AIDS, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; vlima@cfenet.ubc.ca.
authors.forename: Viviane D
authors.initials: VD
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Médicas y Nutrición Salvador Zubirán, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sierra-Madero
authors.affiliation: Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zunyou
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; CIHR Canadian HIV Trials Network, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Singer
authors.affiliation: British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Division of AIDS, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Evan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.affiliation: British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Division of AIDS, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Mark W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Hull
authors.affiliation: British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Division of AIDS, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Richard Harrigan
authors.affiliation: British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada; Division of AIDS, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Julio S G
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Montaner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000480:Alkynes; D019380:Anti-HIV Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D023241:Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active; D048588:Benzoxazines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003521:Cyclopropanes; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D061466:Lopinavir / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D019562:Viral Load / Q000187:drug effects; D014766:Viremia / Q000188:drug therapy*
chemical_list: D000480:Alkynes; D019380:Anti-HIV Agents; D048588:Benzoxazines; D003521:Cyclopropanes; D061466:Lopinavir; C098320:efavirenz
keywords: HIV-1 plasma viral load; antiretroviral therapy; area under the curve; boosted lopinavir; clinical trial; cumulative viremia; efavirenz; efficacy