To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: HAART May Benefit HIV-Infected Injection Drug Users
URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/226CCE.htm
Doctor's Guide
August 4, 2008

MEXICO CITY -- August 4, 2008 -- The survival rate between HIV-infected injection drug users (IDUs) and non-IDUs receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) does not significantly differ after 4 to 5 years of treatment, according to a study in the August 6 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Julio S. G. Montaner, MD, University of British Columbia and St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, presented the findings of the study at a JAMA media briefing at the 17th International AIDS Conference, Mexico City, Mexico.

Dr. Montaner and colleagues compared the rate of death between 3,116 patients with and without a history of injection drug use initiating HAART in an HIV/AIDS treatment program in British Columbia. Of the patients, 29.4% were IDUs (n = 915).

Treatment with HAART was initiated between August 1996 and June 2006. The median follow-up time was 5.3 years for IDUs and 4.3 years for non-IDUs. Patients were followed up until June 30, 2007. During the study period, 20% (622) individuals died (232 IDUs, 390 non-IDUs).

Through 7 years after the initiation of HAART, the researchers found that the cumulative all-cause mortality rate was not statistically different between the 915 IDUs (26.5%) and 2,201 non-IDUs (21.6%).

Further analysis also indicated similar rates of death for both groups, after adjustment for age, sex, baseline AIDS diagnosis, baseline CD4 cell count, adherence, and physician experience.

"Although our findings cannot be generalised outside of [this] cohort, as efforts to improve use of HAART among IDUs expand, the fact that survival patterns were not significantly different between IDUs and non-IDUs should help to challenge the increasingly prevalent belief that IDUs may be markedly less likely to benefit from HAART," the authors wrote.

"Based on these results, we conclude that HAART regimens may have effectiveness at a populational level that is not significantly different regarding the survival of individuals with and without a history of injection drug use."


SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This news story was printed from *Doctor's Guide to the Internet*
located at http://www.docguide.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Return to News Story Page

This site is maintained by webmaster@pslgroup.com
Please contact us with any comments, problems or bugs.
All contents Copyright (c) 1998 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc.
All rights reserved.