Background: Early diagnosis of HIV-1 infection will probably beneficially impact onward transmission and life expectancy. We compared mortality rates and CD4 cell counts at start of combination... Show moreBackground: Early diagnosis of HIV-1 infection will probably beneficially impact onward transmission and life expectancy. We compared mortality rates and CD4 cell counts at start of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) in patients with different frequencies of diagnostic testing for HIV. Methods: Patients infected with HIV-1 through sexual contact and in follow-up anytime from 2004 through 2008 were selected from the AIDS Therapy Evaluation in the Netherlands national observational HIV cohort and stratified into three groups: patients without a prior negative HIV antibody test (i.e., with a positive first-test result); patients with 1-2 years between the last negative and first positive test; and patients with less than 1 year between tests. Outcome measures were mortality from 2004 through 2008 and CD4 cell count at cART initiation. Results: Of 5494 patients, the mortality rate was highest among the 4067 patients with a positive first test (1.33/100 person-years) and the adjusted relative risk of mortality was 0.50 in 561 patients with tests 1-2 years apart (P = 0.04 compared to patients with a positive first test) and 0.49 (P = 0.02) when tests were less than 1 year apart (n = 866). In patients with a positive first test, 48% had CD4 cell counts less than 200 cells/mu l at cART initiation; this proportion was 23-26% in the two groups of repeatedly tested patients (adjusted odds ratio compared to patients with a positive first test 0.43 and 0.37, respectively; both P < 0.0001). Conclusion: Frequent repeated testing for HIV may improve the rate of timely diagnosis and treatment, thereby preventing disease progression. (c) 2011 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Show less
Sighem, A. van; Gras, L.; Reiss, P.; Brinkman, K.; Wolf, F. de; ATHENA Natl Observational Cohort S 2010
Objective: To compare life expectancies between recently diagnosed HIV-infected patients and age and sex-matched uninfected individuals from the general population. Design: National observational... Show moreObjective: To compare life expectancies between recently diagnosed HIV-infected patients and age and sex-matched uninfected individuals from the general population. Design: National observational HIV cohort in the Netherlands. Methods: Four thousand, six hundred and twelve patients diagnosed with HIV between 1998 and 2007 and still antiretroviral therapy-naive as of 24 weeks after diagnosis were selected. Progression to death compared to the age and sex-matched general population was studied with a multivariate hazards model in 4174 (90.5%) patients without AIDS events at 24 weeks. Life expectancy and number of life years lost were calculated using the predicted survival distribution. Results: During 17 580 person-years of follow-up since 24 weeks after diagnosis [median follow-up 3.3 years, interquartile range (IQR) 1.6-5.8], 118 deaths occurred, yielding a mortality rate of 6.7 [95% confidence interval (CI) 5.5-8.0] per 1000 person-years. Median CD4 cell counts at 24 weeks were 480 cells/mu l (IQR 360-650). According to the model, the median number of years lived from age 25 was 52.7 (IQR 44.2-59.3; general population 53.1) for men and 57.8 (49.2-63.7; 58.1) for women without CDC-B event. The number of life years lost varied between 0.4 if diagnosed with HIV at age 25 and 1.4 if diagnosed at age 55; for patients with a CDC-B event this range was 1.8-8.0 years. Conclusion: The life expectancy of asymptomatic HIV-infected patients who are still treatment-naive and have not experienced a CDC-B or C event at 24 weeks after diagnosis approaches that of non-infected individuals. However, follow-up time is short compared to the expected number of years lived. (C) 2010 Wolters Kluwer Health vertical bar Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Show less
