[procaare] Early HAART Viral Load can Affect Long-term Survival

["Kaisernetwork" <leela@healthnet.org>]

HIV Viral Load During Initial 6-18 Months Of HAART Can Determine Long-Term Survival, Study Says
http://www.kaisernetwork.org.
19 Jan 2006 
***********

A patient's HIV viral load during the initial six to 18 months of highly active antiretroviral therapy can determine the patient's long-term chances of survival, according to a study published in the Jan. 1 edition of the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, Reuters Health reports (Douglas, Reuters Health, 1/12). 

Nicolai Lohse of Odense University Hospital in Odense, Denmark, and colleagues looked at 2,046 HIV-positive patients from six to 18 months after HAART was initiated (Lohse et al., Clinical Infectious Diseases, 1/1). According to the study, 92% of patients who had no detectable viral load during the period were alive 72 months after HAART initiation, 85.6% of patients with a detectable viral load 1%-99% of the time were alive and 76.1% of patients with a viral load 100% of the time were alive. 

Lohse said that because the study determined that an early increase in viral load during treatment is "associated with a bad long-term prognosis," doctors "prescribing antiretroviral therapy should continue to work with patients to keep viral load under tight control" (Reuters Health, 1/12). 


Links

Clinical Infectious Diseases Jan. 1 edition <http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/CID/journal/issues/v42n1/37195/brief/37195.abstract.html>, 

Douglas, Reuters Health, 1/12
<http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2006/01/12/eline/links/20060112elin031.html>  

Odense University Hospital
<http://www.ouh.dk/wm122110> 

Kaisernetwork report on Lohse et al., Clinical Infectious Diseases 1/1
<http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?hint=1&DR_ID=32714> 


"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.