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Antiretroviral Treatment For Injecting Drug Users

ISSN 1472-4863. Published by i-Base.

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GUIDELINES

US adult and adolecent HIV treatment guidelines updated


US adult and adolecent HIV treatment guidelines updated twice - on 1 December 2007 and 29 January 2008Open link in new window
http://www.hivatis.org

http://aidsinfo.nih.gov/contentfiles/AdultandAdolescentGL.pdf [1.7 MB]

Taken together, the updates included the following changes

“The proportion of patients experiencing immunologic failure depends on how failure is defined, the observation period, and the CD4 T-cell count when treatment was started. In the longest study conducted to date, the percentage of patients with suppressed viremia who reached a CD4 T-cell count >500 cells/mm3 through 6 years of treatment was 42% (starting treatment with a CD4 <200 cells/mm3), 66% (starting with CD4 200–350 cells/mm3) and 85% (starting with CD4 >350 cells/mm3) increases in CD4 T-cell counts in treatment-naïve patients with initial antiretroviral regimens are approximately 150 cells/mm3 over the first year. A CD4 T-cell count plateau may occur after 4–6 years of treatment with suppressed viremia.

A persistently low CD4 T-cell count while on suppressive antiretroviral therapy is associated with a small, but appreciable, risk of AIDS- and non– AIDS-related morbidity and mortality. For example, in the FIRST study, a low CD4 T-cell count on therapy was associated with an increased risk for AIDS-related complications (adjusted hazard ratio of 0.57 for CD4 T-cell count 100 cells/mm3 higher). Similarly, a low CD4 T-cell count was associated with an increased risk for non-AIDS events, including cardiovascular, hepatic, renal and cancer events. Other studies support these associations.”

Unlike French guidelines, use of IL-2 to boost CD4 counts to above 200 cells/mm3 in immunological non-responders is only recommended within a clinical trial setting.


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