Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Brief Report: Effectiveness of Combination Antiretroviral Therapy on Survival and Opportunistic Infections in a Developing World Setting

2007; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; Volume: 44; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1097/qai.0b013e31802f8512

1944-7884

Daniel Corey, Hyung Woo Kim, Raúl Salazar, Ricardo Illescas, Juan Carlos Canós Villena, Luis M. Gutiérrez, Jorge Sánchez, Stephen R. Tabet,

HIV Research and Treatment

The prolonged effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in a developing country is not well established.An observational database was established at the HIV clinic of the Almenara Hospital in Lima, Peru in 1996. All 564 initially antiretroviral-naive HIV-infected persons (mean CD4 count of 91 cells/mm3) who received combination ART were followed over time.The overall survival rate was 96% at year 2, 94% at year 4, and 91% at year 5. Among persons who initiated therapy with CD4 counts <100 cells/mm3, the overall survival rate at 3 years was 95%. Opportunistic infections while on ART occurred in 20% of persons. Patients who received 2 reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitors plus a protease inhibitor had slightly better survival rates and less opportunistic disease in the first year of therapy as compared with those receiving 2 RT inhibitors and a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor or 3 RT inhibitors.This study demonstrates the long-term effectiveness of ART in a developing country urban setting. It provides evidence of the importance of continuing global financing initiatives to provide widespread HIV therapy for countries in the developing world.