title: Illustration of a measure to combine viral suppression and viral rebound in studies of HIV therapy.
abstract: Viral load is an important tool for assessing antiretroviral treatment efficacy. However, the most common viral load end point, virologic failure, may be flawed. We illustrate an alternative end point that estimates the average time patients spent suppressed before rebound in the AIDS Clinical Trials Group A5095 trial. Patients averaged 644 days suppressed in the 3-drug arm and 686 days suppressed in the 4-drug arm, for a difference of 42 days in favor of the 4-drug regimen (95% confidence interval: -11 to 96). These results agree with results using virologic failure as the end point but better emphasize the separate suppression and rebound processes.
authors.affiliation: *Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC; †Division of Infectious Diseases, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC; ‡Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC; and §Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA.
authors.forename: Jessie K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: Stephen R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Cole
authors.forename: Adaora
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Adimora
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fine
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Eron
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D016903:Drug Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D019562:Viral Load; D014894:Weights and Measures
chemical_list: D044966:Anti-Retroviral Agents